Denny Hamlin doesn’t know how to feel about NASCAR’s ‘lawyer line’ Xfinity race decision

Weather decided not to cooperate in Chicago over the weekend, forcing NASCAR to cut both the Xfinity and Cup Series races short. Driver Denny Hamlin isn’t quite sure how to feel about it just yet — at least when it came to the Xfinity race.

Rain and lightning forced NASCAR to halt the race two laps shy of halfway — which is what NASCAR typically needs completed to mark an event official. However, the sport made a slight alteration to the rules, declaring Cole Custer the winner.

Hamlin opened up about NASCAR’s decision to call off the remainder of the race and declare a winner.

“The Xfinity race was cut short. I don’t know how I feel about it, but I don’t know what other choice they had,” Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast. “NASCAR pretty much covers themselves with a sentence after each rule that allows them to do whatever.

“I get it. I think had we pushed our Sunday race back to Monday, they could’ve concluded the whole thing but I also saw Jeremy Clements that an extra night of hotels is an extra $1,500, $1,600 to his team. And they just can’t keep staying over. So, it’s a very tough circumstance.”

There were a lot of factors involved in NASCAR’s decision. And, considering the additional costs to teams to stick around an extra night, it might’ve been the right call.

But it probably didn’t sit well with every team driving on the Xfinity circuit this weekend.

Denny Hamlin opens up on tweet about delaying Chicago race

When the rain came down like a monsoon on Sunday, Hamlin was pretty vocal about what he believed NASCAR should do. Although the league thought about starting the race on time, the No. 11 driver wanted a delay.

“We cannot control god. What we can control is our decisions and reactions to unforeseen circumstances,” Hamlin wrote Sunday. “Please NASCAR. Do not do this. We have too much positive momentum around this weekend to change the narrative now.”

In the podcast, Hamlin explained why he sent out the tweet.

“That’s why I said what I did in the tweet before we actually did get started when it was downpour rain,” Hamlin said. “I mean, there was a foot of water on the racetrack and they’re saying, ‘Be ready, everything’s on time.’ Like, we’re in driver’s intros and it’s just a monsoon. It’s terrible.

“Like, what? Stop. Don’t do this. This is not the right decision. It’s totally unsafe for us to be out there in these conditions. So, that’s when I sent that tweet out. And they didn’t do it.”

Common sense prevailed, and NASCAR still ran 75 of the scheduled 100 laps in the Grant Park 220 on Sunday.

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