Denny Hamlin had a very eventful race on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The roller coaster ride Hamlin took at Atlanta led him to three separate wrecks that the No. 11 car was involved in.
Hamlin spoke to Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass after the race about his messy day.
Denny Hamlin describes the incidents he was in as he deadpanned that he hit the ?trifecta? of a wreck in each stage. pic.twitter.com/0cMdMkKOlY
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 26, 2024
"Trifecta. They (No. 11 team) mentioned we wrecked in every stage, so we completed the trifecta," Hamlin said. "I gotta look at them, but I feel like a victim, but I don't know. ..."
The first incident of the day saw Hamlin spin through the front stretch grass after contact with Kyle Busch. This was while he was running sixth in the closing laps of the first stage. No harm was done to the No. 11 car, as he did not make any contact with anything on his way through the grass. The only thing lost there was an opportunity to score stage points.
"On the front stretch the 8 spun us, but I don't even know, I was totally caught off guard," he said. "I don't know if I hedged too low down the straightaway. I knew I was on the outside, but I'm not sure."
The second incident of the day for Hamlin came on the final lap of Stage 2, when contact between Joey Logano and Chris Buescher caused those two to wreck. Hamlin then hit Buescher and spun around. Hamlin was also in sixth during this incident. It was another time where Hamlin did not score stage points, but the car drove away just fine. That incident led to Hamlin calling out Logano for making an unnecessary block on the final lap of Stage 2.
The final part of the "trifecta" was a four-wide debacle that saw Hamlin and Chase Briscoe make contact in the final stage. This time, the No. 11 was damaged and was no longer competitive in the race.
"The 14 (Briscoe), I guess I ran into, but I'm four-wide," Hamlin told Pockrass. "I have nowhere to go on the bottom. The 99 (Daniel Suarez) put me four-wide second from the bottom. There's just no room."
The crazy part about this last incident was that Hamlin was again running sixth at the time. All three wrecks Hamlin was involved in started when he was running in the sixth position. So come playoff time, Hamlin might have to try to be extra careful if he is ever running sixth during the race, or things might go badly for the No. 11 car.
With three wrecks in one race, Hamlin summed up his day, "[I hit] Everything but the pace car today."
Hamlin will look to turn his luck around as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Pennzoil 400 on Sunday at 3:30 p.m EST.
