Hamlin claims NASCAR wanted to ‘make up penalty’ – Sports News
Denny Hamlin has claimed that NASCAR was going to make up a penalty for him forward of final weekend’s Iowa Corn 250 after the No. 11 was denied the chance to change his brake pads. Hamlin, who presently leads the NASCAR Cup Series championship, had already raised issues in regards to the brake pads on his car.
Despite these issues, he was in a position to full qualifying with the identical set of pads, which appeared to verify his fears as they started to trigger issues after a number of laps. With the race approaching, Hamlin wanted to change the pads earlier than taking to the monitor.
However, NASCAR guidelines meant making the change would end in a penalty. Hamlin appealed to NASCAR officers, asking for permission to swap the pads with out being penalized, however his request was denied. Frustrated by the choice, Hamlin mentioned he wouldn’t participate within the race if he was compelled to compete with the problematic pads.
NASCAR responded by warning him that refusing to race would end in an even more extreme penalty. Hamlin has now claimed that NASCAR was going to discover a manner to penalize him earlier than ending fifth as JGR teammate Ty Gibbs took his second win of the 2026 season.
“And that’s their argument, right,” Hamlin mentioned. “We do not want 36 teams having a qualifying brake pad and a race brake pad. I told them I’d start on pit lane. We have a major problem.
“And they were like, ‘That’s not the way it’s written right now.’ And I said, ‘I know that. However, this is where common sense has to come into play that this is not for some strategic advantage.
“This is to hopefully keep my car from blowing a rotor or going into a corner dead straight and wiping someone or myself head on into the wall.’
“That’s what we’re trying to do here. So that’s where I wish there was an asterisk at the bottom of it saying, ‘But we will use common sense.’
“Speaking of making some penalties up. Listen, I did my best in that hauler, laid out my case. I said, what if I just tell the team, ‘I will not be going on that racetrack with those brake pads. I’m too old to be hitting this wall head on.’
“They said, ‘Well, we would make up a penalty and it would be worse than what it would be if you just came in and changed them under green.’ And I was like, ‘oh, well, I guess I just need to go slower then.’
“If I lose brakes, I’m just going to put around the racetrack and end up however many laps down that I end up. So, they did acknowledge that they were willing to make up a rule.”
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