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Fans slammed NASCAR for call on Denny Hamlin potentially jumping the final restart

A NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond on Sunday night appeared to be heading toward an inevitable Martin Truex Jr. win in the closing stages, but a late-race caution caused chaos – and left Truex Jr. fuming and driving into the back of his own teammate.

With Truex Jr. coming around to take the white flag, Bubba Wallace spun Kyle Larson to bring out a caution. This forced the entire field to pit for tires, and Denny Hamlin’s crew delivered a scorching top, vaulting the No. 11 car from third to first.

Hamlin held off Truex Jr. on the restart and went on to win his second race of 2024 – but after crossing the checkered flag, Truex Jr. sped up and slammed into the back of Hamlin multiple times.

The broadcast crew was mystified. The battle between Hamlin and Truex Jr. into Turn 1 was close, but nothing out of the ordinary. When he got out of his car and spoke to Jamie Little, however, Truex Jr. accused Hamlin of jumping the restart, giving himself the advantage he needed down the straight to beat Truex in the corner.

The replays showed… that Martin Truex Jr. may be correct. Hamlin seemed to gain an advantage on Truex Jr. before he crossed the white line on the track that denotes the start of the restart zone.

Strangely, however, Fox commentator Mike Joy quickly reported that NASCAR had already ruled that the restart wasn’t under review.

UPDATE: NASCAR told reporters after the race that it reviewed the restart and found nothing wrong. It’s unclear why Joy was told at the time and relayed on the broadcast the restart wasn’t under review.

This raised eyebrows among fans for several reasons. One, there would have obviously been no harm in reviewing the restart. There is no restart more important to extensively review than a green-white-checkered that determines a winner.

Since NASCAR is saying it did review the restart, it’s reasonable for fans to expect some kind of a breakdown explaining the call. NASCAR would presumably have the exact data it needs to either clear Hamlin of any wrongdoing or prove he jumped – which at this point it needs to do publicly. Every team gets a detailed stream of SMT data, which shows exactly when and where drivers are applying the throttle or the brake at any point of the track.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of verifying the race winner. A hypothetical post-race penalty for Hamlin – which doesn’t seem to be coming – would give the win to Joey Logano, locking him into the playoffs in what has otherwise been a brutal year for the No. 22 so far.

NASCAR told reporters that while the restart was “awful close,” officials deemed it to be legal.

Did NASCAR just get this call wrong?

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