23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick both had cars capable of competing for the win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past weekend. Once again, they came up short, but it wasn't due to the drivers' efforts. Pit road issues once again befell both drivers. And team co-owner Denny Hamlin wasn't thrilled by it.
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Reddick's pit crew took too much time during his final green flag pit stop, which ultimately cost him the chance to run race winner Kyle Larson down before the checkered flag fell.
Before entering the pits, Reddick was within a second of Larson's No. 5 Chevy, but a 13-second pit stop cost Reddick's No. 45 dearly, as he exited the pits more than three seconds behind.
A caution with 32 to go in the race brought the field back together, but by then it was still pretty much over.
While Reddick came home second, Wallace had a tire issue, as his crew applied the lug too tight, preventing them from removing his left front wheel.
The lugnut finally came off and the @Columbia1938 team was able to change BW’s left front tire. He returns to the track 10 laps down.
Unfortunately, he will serve a pass through penalty for too many crew members over the wall. pic.twitter.com/ThyBUC1NOB
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) March 3, 2024
The crew eventually had to cut the lug off, but Wallace was well out of contention over a dozen laps down, by the time they got it off.
Hamlin was less than thrilled with the issues that arose in Las Vegas and he had plenty to say about the pit road issues on the new episode of "Actions Detrimental."
"This is the new team blues, ..." Hamlin said. "When I had to start this damn team from scratch, I had nobody. And so, anybody that's really good, they're under long contracts. These teams lock these guys up for years and years and so, you've got nobody. You gotta find talent within the field somewhere that's got experience. Or you try to get some young guys that are very inexperienced. And this is just part of starting a team and trying to do this on your own."
The pit road issues have plagued the team every season since it began in 2021. The pit mistakes have cost the team wins, including at Las Vegas last weekend.
"I certainly feel like generally speaking, yes, this is a topic this weekend and it will be here in a few hours. But it's a process. It f——— sucks. I know it sucks. It's keeping the 23XI guys out of victory lane. No question about it. There was at least 2-3 victories that Tyler should've had last year that he didn't get an opportunity to because we messed up for him on pit road," Hamlin said of the disappointment on Sunday. "This is one where... if he has Kyle Larson's pit crew, it's gonna be a hell of a race. I'm not saying that he's gonna beat Kyle because that's gonna be a tough feat. I think that Kyle had a better short-run car than him, generally speaking. But it would have been a hell of a battle and Kyle would have had his hands full most of the day versus just kinda cruising out to a 2-second lead and watching us in the rearview."
It certainly is tough to be in Reddick's and Wallace's spot, because they are giving it their all on the track, and the pit crews are wrecking top fives, top 10s, and maybe even winning days.
