The “big one” on Saturday night involving Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano at Daytona International Speedway had significant ramifications on the NASCAR playoff standings, costing Denny Hamlin several points and nearly keeping Alex Bowman out of the playoffs. A day after the race, Hamlin shared who he felt was most at fault for the wreck.
On the latest episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin shared his belief that Wallace was at fault for the biggest crash of the night because the No. 23 ‘squeezed’ Logano and Kyle Busch when he wasn’t clear.
“It looked like to me that Bubba just squeezed those two guys below him down. You could see that they’re there, two cars on the inside. I don’t know what Freddie was calling; maybe he was calling three-wide top or not, I’m not sure. But he just squeezed on down there and there was no room. He ended up wrecking himself and a few others.
Denny Hamlin on the crash started by Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch at Daytona
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The 12-car wreck ended the night for several of the top drivers near the front of the field. When Wallace squeezed down Logano, it pushed the No. 22 into Busch. That caused the No. 8 and the No. 23 to collide, with the two cars then going in opposite directions and creating carnage throughout the field.
Bowman, Austin Cindric and Riley Herbst were all primary victims of the wreck, with the damage ending their race. Meanwhile, the extent of damage to Busch’s car wiped out any shot at a win-and-in scenario, while Hamlin’s car also sustained damage that allowed Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell to surpass him in the final regular-season NASCAR standings.
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While some watching the race pointed to contact from Kyle Larson into the back of Wallace’s car as playing a potential role in Wallace getting squirrely and into Logano, Hamlin doesn’t believe that was a factor.
“I mean, I’m looking at it and I don’t think so. The 5 was already on him close, but no. That’s just the 23 not clear. That’s just one of those not clear moments.”
Denny Hamlin on if contact from Kyle Larson helped cause the Bubba Wallace crash at Daytona
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As captured by Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Larson said on the radio that he wasn’t sure “why Bubba was crowding him so much.” While the onboard camera from Larson’s No. 5 car shows that he slightly bumped the No. 23, Wallace already seemed to be squeezing Logano and Busch before that.
After the wreck, Wallace ultimately did seem to take blame for the crash but was just happy to put it behind him with his playoff spot locked up. In terms of playoff implications, Hamlin and Busch were likely the most impacted by it.
