Denny Hamlin said NASCAR made the right call in ending the Cup Series race at Atlanta on Sunday with a caution.
“It was the right call,” Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “Good call? Just depends on who you ask. If you ask the fans who want entertainment, no — it was not a good call in their eyes. But I can assure you there’s not a driver in the field that would want that race to stay green, given the scenarios that were going on.
“You keep these races green, and someone will end up getting hurt. There’s just too much opportunity and the drivers are way too vulnerable when they’re sitting in the racetrack and then cars have to go by them full speed to gain spots. That’s just not a good scenario for anyone. The race had to end under caution.”
Further, this is the call that drivers asked NASCAR to make after Saturday night in the Xfinity Series race at Atlanta when that race stayed green despite making drivers race through a debris field. During the drivers meeting on Sunday morning, NASCAR vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said that was a mistake.
“My last comment will be, based on (Saturday) night’s race, our goal is to finish our races under green conditions,” Sawyer said. “That’s our No. 1 goal. Also, we’re not going to be racing through a debris field. So you can expect cautions to come out based on (Saturday) night. That was on us.
“So a situation that comes up today like (Saturday) night will be a caution.”
And that’s what happened.
And Hamlin says he recognizes that this call is inconsistent from previous decisions but he says everyone has to ‘start keeping score now.’
“Guys, somebody seriously — and it could be your favorite driver — will get really, really hurt,” he said. “A caution means it’s an unsafe condition. That’s the definition. So let’s reset. Forget the past. They’re 1-0. Let’s start the trend of correct calls.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
