Denny Hamlin reveals critical issue that derailed shot at Richmond win

Denny Hamlin called it an average night. A night where he finished P4 in the Cook Out 400. On a night that he not only overcame an issue that slowed his pit stops down, but also a night that he grew his lead in the Chase standings. Hamlin’s lead in the standings went from 103 points after the Iowa Corn 350, to 115 points after Richmond. Despite the issues and his personal disappointment with a P4 finish, Hamlin heaped praise on his team. Hamlin explained the issue The Joe Gibbs Racing driver praised his team for overcoming a critical issue with his car. His left-side jack stop broke on his car, causing extremely long pit times for the final two green-flag stops. Hamlin feels he had a car capable of winning based on the speed he showed over the last one hundred laps. “Man, it was last hundred,” started Hamlin. “It was extremely fast, but obviously had two stops where the, you know, the left-side jack stop was broken, so it fell down. “They couldn’t get the jack under the car, so that’s 10 seconds worth of extra pit stop, and I don’t know. I think we ended 11 behind, so it was really, really good. “I mean, just the team did a great job with the, you know, they called the right strategy there at the end and then got the car the best when it really mattered that last hundred.” What caused the issue? It’s rare to have a jack stop break during a race. Hamlin just chalked it up to bad luck. “Just you never know. I mean, coming up on the racetrack, you bottom it out here and there, but contact here and there, you just never know. “It’s just one of those things.“ Hamlin points finger at himself Richmond is Hamlin’s home track. He’s won 5 NASCAR Cup Series races there. That’s why he feels a P4 finish is just an average race there for him. And despite the issues, he pointed the finger at himself for bad restarts while doubling down on the praise for his team’s effort on Saturday night. “Yeah, I mean, you wouldn’t know it, I guess, after watching tonight. But this was an average race for us, and we weren’t exceptional, but we were much better than what we were here yesterday. “The team made amazing adjustments overnight, and then again, amazing adjustments the last hundred. I just put us too far behind with some bad restarts, and then obviously those last two pit stops.”