By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
Denny Hamlin’s bid of capturing that elusive Bill France Cup Trophy in 2024 has reached its massive roadblock at Martinsville Speedway.
During Saturday’s Cup practice leading up to qualifying for Sunday’s Xfinity 500, a puff of smoke on the left front of Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota came rapidly. As Hamlin entered Turn 3 and little time to react, his car lost control and slid into the outside wall, damaging the back end of his car.
It brought the session to a halt as Hamlin, who was third fastest in the session, brought his wounded Joe Gibbs Racing machine to the garage area.
The main culprit of the weekend defining crash? A chunk of rubber was found in the throttle body that crew chief Chris Gabehart discovered and sent a photo of it to Hamlin.
Frustrated over the accident, Hamlin exited out of his car alone in the No. 11 garage stall and slammed the roof with his helmet. The five-time Martinsville winner then left the scene and entered the No. 11 team hauler to cool off before explaining how little could’ve been done after the hung throttle occurred.
“The (chunk of rubber) hung it wide open,” said Hamlin. “I try to do everything I can to not hit head on. But at that point, I’m just trying everything I can to keep the thing spun around so then I can try to maybe get the car to slide forward instead of backwards. Obviously, at this small track and whatnot, it’s hard to keep it off the wall here.”
Immediate bodywork removal was done on the rear of Hamlin’s car just to get it cleared through inspection and avoid pulling out the backup car, but their Saturday was over as far as hitting the track was concerned. Important work to the car and chassis observation took precedent as the No. 11 crew brought out a huge cart to make any repairs.
No qualifying attempt meant Hamlin will roll of 37th with a spot in the Championship 4 on the line.
Hamlin enters the penultimate race of the NASCAR Playoffs sixth in points, 18 markers below the cutline currently held by spring Martinsville winner William Byron, who qualified third.
“Our battle is going to be very much uphill,” said Hamlin, who hasn’t won at Martinsville since Spring 2015. “Certainly, the chances of getting in on points now are done. We just have to figure out a way to win the race.”
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