Denny Hamlin Throws Shade at NASCAR's Failure to Extract Tony Stewart's Mentee With Bold 'Riles' Claim

The Talladega race had one of the biggest wrecks of the season, with most of the cars getting wiped out. Toward the end of the race, Brad Keselowski got loose, and he moved into Austin Cindric's car, which caused the chain reaction that took out most of the drivers in the race. One of the drivers who was unaffected by the incident was Denny Hamlin, who saw the wreck up ahead but managed to avoid it.

Chaotic is just one of the words that could be used to describe the race, and an unexpected finish was the cherry on top. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. managed to win his first race of the season despite the major wrecks, and it was redemption day for the driver. Although Denny Hamlin was not directly involved in the wreck, the caution delay became why he couldn't get a better finish. He came forward to talk about this in the post-race interview, and this is what he had to say.

What ruined Denny Hamlin's chances at victory in a Talladega Once all the cars came to a stall at Talladega, the NASCAR safety officers approached the cars. It was Chase Briscoe who spoke about his interaction after the race, where he revealed that it was allegedly NASCAR who asked him to remain seated despite the safety officers doing the opposite. This is why there was a delay before the race restarted and that's what Denny Hamlin was talking about.

When Denny Hamlin spoke to the media after his race, he explained, "All I knew was that the yellow was out and our car wasn't moving. Usually, when the yellow is out, you're certainly supposed to be moving. That's caution, not red." Hamlin learned about the situation that Chase Briscoe was talking about from his team, and he said, "I guess my crew should say that others were refusing to get out of the car. So, I mean, what do you do? I mean, take his window net down."

Hamlin concluded, "But you know, it doesn't always sound like it's not my fight this week, certainly, but it certainly is a big factor if rules could change." The reason Hamlin said it's not his fight was because he has another situation going on with NASCAR. The team that he is the co-owner of, 23XI Racing, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR with Front Row Motorsports, and he decided to stay out of this issue.

From what Hamlin explained about the caution, he puts the fact that he couldn't score a better finish than 10th on the time it took to restart the race. Finishing 10th ended up quite good for the No. 11 driver, as he now stands 4th on the playoff charts, and with 1 race to go before the next round, he lies on the safer side of the playoff grid.

Denny Hamlin's luck is turning around Before Bristol, Denny Hamlin was having a tough time on track. Ever since Daytona, he felt like he was dealing with bad luck which is why he couldn't have the finishes he wanted. When he tried to figure out why he wasn't performing, he jokingly revealed on his podcast that it could have been because of his new pet Lulu.

Recently, Denny Hamlin's daughter Taylor brought home a dog and named her "Lulu" and that happened to be around the time he started losing track dominance. The driver who started the year strong with 3 wins in 11 races, fell off the front row and started finishing in the 20s. So Hamlin discussed the matter on his podcast Actions Detrimental.

When Hamlin felt like it was Lulu who was bringing him bad luck, he also went ahead to put up a post on Instagram looking for a new home for her. But in the end, he put his pedal down and started delivering results. This worked out for everyone including Taylor who was against letting Lulu go, as the dog has been with the family ever since.

Whether Lulu had something to do with Hamlin's slump or not. Do you believe that he can now fight for his first title in 20 years?