Denny Hamlin questions Penske’s Joey Logano | Sports News

Joey Logano proved precisely why he is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion after he turned Richmond Raceway into one of the most important comeback showcases of the NASCAR season on Saturday evening. But the way in which he even climbed to a high 5 end had Denny Hamlin asking huge money questions.

Logano‘s qualifying catastrophe earlier than the Cook Out 400 featured a blown tire that despatched the No. 22 into the wall and compelled his Team Penske crew into in a single day repairs. Under NASCAR‘s guidelines, qualifying tires couldn’t switch to the race except that they had been scuffed during Saturday’s runs.

That’s the place Cody Ware and Rick Ware Racing got here in. The No. 51 ran final in qualifying with a 22.937 lap and have become the sudden hyperlink in a deal that noticed Logano begin the race on Ware’s scuffs. Ware has zero wins, no high 10 finishes, and no playoff consideration in sight whereas ranked thirty sixth of all drivers this season.

Hamlin admitted he wasn’t in opposition to groups swapping tires however wished transparency in his newest ‘Action’s Detrimental’ podcast episode. “If the rule is you must make a qualifying attempt on a set of tires if you transfer, my question is, did the 51 car run a set short?” Hamlin asked.

His co-host, Jared Allen, confirmed the suspicion, leading Hamlin to wonder how much Team Penske paid Rick Ware Racing to make the arrangement. “Rick Ware took it,” Hamlin said.

“I assume there’s a rule that you just do must make a qualifying attempt should you select to switch over. It retains you from having an further set of contemporary. It sounds just like the 22 wished that very same set of tires as everybody else, so he needed to buy the tires off the 51, after which the 51 earned a examine one set short.”

Neither Hamlin nor his co-host slammed the deal. Both highlighted that the transaction worked as long as smaller teams aren’t pressured into giving away tires to teams against their will.

Hamlin even sympathized with Logano, pointing out the blown tire wasn’t driver error. “Bad luck,” Hamlin said, calling the solution “in all probability probably the most truthful option to do it.”

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Fair or not, Logano made the tires count after starting from 38th position. He powered through the field, cracked the top 20 by the end of Stage 1, climbed to 15th in Stage 2, and eventually pushed to fourth. By Lap 136, he was running in the top five and stayed there through the finish in a race won by Austin Dillon.

For Penske, the gamble kept their star in the running. Logano has already secured his spot in the postseason after winning at Texas Motor Speedway in May. The race was one other the place he began close to the back and steadily labored his method ahead.

For Ware, it meant an further payday to cap off a less-than-desirable season. NASCAR’s upcoming race at Daytona will finish the common season earlier than the playoffs start at Darlington on Aug 31.