Stuck Throttle Crash Leaves Denny Hamlin’s Title Hopes in Jeopardy

Denny Hamlin rolled off for the final weekend of the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway 18 points behind the cutoff line, trying to find speed in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for Sunday’s (Nov. 3rd) Xfinity 500.

Early on in Friday’s practice session, Hamlin had that speed, ultimately finishing third on the leaderboard and fastest in overall lap averages.

After over 20 laps on the track, a chunk of rubber got stuck in the throttle body of his Toyota, causing the throttle to hang open. The hung throttle sent Hamlin sliding into turn 3 and slamming into the wall with heavy damage.

“We just made an adjustment to the car, and it was doing everything it needed to do,” Hamlin said. “It was maneuvering through the pack pretty well. I went into turn 3, and the car just didn’t slow down. The throttle hung on us. That certainly caught me off guard, but it happens. We just got unlucky.”

Hamlin acknowledged that his focus heading into the cutoff race is to win the race to lock into the championship-deciding round at Phoenix Raceway.

“It’s hard enough to win these races straight up,” Hamlin said. “Even if you had the pole, it’s just hard to win. Our battle is going to be very much uphill … Certainly, the chances of getting in on points are done. We just have to figure out a way to win the race.”

On top of the crash in practice today, a penalty nulling Hamlin of crucial playoff points from his spring win at Bristol cost Hamlin 14 points, which would place him four points behind the cutoff of JGR teammate Christopher Bell.

“It’s certainly a factor, especially at this point,” Hamlin said in a press conference.” [There’s] nothing you can do about it. You have to race from where the ball lies. We have to go here and win. So, that’s what we’ll try to do.”

The crew will try to salvage the car in repairs in time for tomorrow’s 500-lap race around the Paperclip. Broadcasting will be provided by NBC.