Hamlin Fast In Martinsville Practice Before Late Crash

Denny Hamlin spins during NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – An already tough path for Denny Hamlin to make it into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 took another dramatic turn Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin, whose No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE was at the top of the speed charts midway through a 45-minute practice session at the .526-mile paper clip, suffered a stuck throttle that sent his car skidding hard into the outside wall in turn three and caused significant damage to the rear clip.

It was a shocking moment for a five-time Martinsville winner who has led more than 2,400 laps at the track over his two-decade Cup Series career.

After being checked and released from the infield care center, Hamlin met with reporters and immediately had information as to what went wrong that caused the shunt.

“The moments that led up to [the crash], our car was phenomenal, and it was doing everything we needed it to do,” noted Hamlin. “We made a change and went back out to assess the change, and felt it was right where it needed to be. Then entering (turn three), the car didn’t slow down. The throttle hung on me.

“Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) sent me a picture, and there was a huge chunk of rubber in the throttle body that hung it wide open.”

Though Hamlin’s hands were visibly working the wheel, trying to save the race car, he was unable to do so before it slid right rear first into the outside SAFER Barrier.

“I tried to do everything I could to not hit [the wall] head on, and did that thankfully, so after that point I was trying to keep the car spun around so I could try to get the car to slide forward instead of backward,” Hamlin explained. “But it’s a small track and just hard to keep it off the wall here in that scenario.

“Most of my reaction was instinctual,” he continued. “It’s not where you’re thinking, ‘What’s the best way to wreck?’ From my standpoint, it was about making sure I didn’t hit nose-first.”

As crew members scurried around Hamlin’s Toyota in the garage, assessing the situation and trying to figure out a course of action, Gabehart said it was too early to tell whether they’d have to move to a backup car given the repairability of the NextGen chassis.

“This is a totally different era, and truthfully, we think most of the (rear) clip looks fine,” explained Gabehart. “We’re going to take a couple of measurements, and if everything looks good, then it’s just about replacing a couple of body panels and putting a rear bumper back on it.

“There were a lot of good things about this car; obviously, it fired off really fast and was even better yet just before the crash. Just swallowed a chunk of rubber that got stuck between the throttle stop and the throttle lever, and hung the throttle. It wasn’t anything that anyone did wrong; it was just a freak deal.”

If the car is fixable, Gabehart tipped his Joe Gibbs Racing crew would do so on Martinsville Speedway grounds.

“If we can fix it, we’re better off fixing it here from a time standpoint,” Gabehart noted. “Time-wise, you’d lose hours just in transporting it, let alone working on it, but we’re not sure if it’s fully possible jus yet.”

With Hamlin’s pursuit of a maiden Cup Series title already in relatively dire straits – he enters the penultimate race of the season and Round of 8 elimination 18 points below the cut line and likely needing a win to advance – Saturday’s events did nothing to ease the process.

Hamlin didn’t turn a qualifying lap, meaning he’ll start at the rear Sunday and have the worst pit selection, but he still kept an air of confidence because “the impossible has happened before, right?”

“We drew the unlucky straw. That’s been the story of our championship pursuits for 20 years. It’s so disappointing, considering the preparation the team puts into bringing me fast cars.

“I hope we can pull off a win. If the car has the ability to maneuver, like this one did, then we’ll have a chance. The unfortunate thing is that we don’t get to pick a pit stall, so we’re probably going to be right in the middle of the mess on pit road, and track position is key here.

“The road (to the Championship 4) has gotten infinitely harder, but it’s not impossible.”

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET, live on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.