Denny Hamlin’s Watkins Glen adventure started off with a spin in qualifying and ended in the tire barrier on Turn 1 -- 24 laps short of the finish on Monday.
Hamlin, who started the NASCAR Sprint Cup race 42nd, was running 12th on Lap 65 just prior to the wreck. He lost his brakes coming into the turn and slammed into the tire barrier, bending the retaining wall on the other side.
“Something came out in the left front,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know whether it was a tire blew out and then it cut the brake line or the brake line just blew. One of the two of them went and when it did, obviously lost all steering power, all braking power and that was about the scariest I’ve ever been in a race car.”
Hamlin entered the weekend 11th in the points standings and in the second wild-card position for the Chase. He finished 36th.
Hamlin said he thought the only hit he took that was harder in his career was at Talladega in fall 2008. That hit left him with a concussion. Surprisingly, Hamlin said he felt better than expected after Monday's crash.
“It felt like it was slow motion for me, but can’t say enough for all the safety precautions NASCAR takes and obviously the wall helped a lot, getting that dampened the hit a little bit,” Hamlin said. “Really encourage all these drivers to go to seven-point safety belts. I had those and it just really softened the blow quite a bit. A lot of these guys run five-point and it’s just not enough. It’s a testament to all the safety stuff that we have.”
“This was just terrifying because you know there’s nothing you can do and you’re headed straight for the fence. That was the scariest I’ve been in my car.”
