For NASCAR fans it doesn’t get any better than what we all saw from the Auto Club Speedway in California on Sunday. The only downside to an otherwise wonderful day of racing action was that a driver was injured in the aftermath. Denny Hamlin, the driver for the #11 FedEx Toyota for Joe Gibbs racing suffered an L1 compression fracture on the final lap of the Auto Club 400 while fighting with Joey Logano for the lead.
After the Daytona 500 Logano and Hamlin got into a war of words on twitter, with Hamlin calling Logano an idiot. Then last week in Bristol Hamlin pushed Logano’s car out of the way and in doing so, spun the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion around and out of contention. Then on Sunday, while racing for the win, Logano seemed to push into Hamlin’s car, who spun out of control, and hit one of the inside concrete walls. Hamlin’s car hit the inside wall as hard as any hit we’ve seen since Elliot Sadler hit the wall during a race at Pocono in 2010.
After hitting the wall, Hamlin dropped the window net, a signal to all that he was OK, and got out of the car. After he exited the vehicle he quickly dropped down to the ground in obvious pain and discomfort. Hamlin was quickly loaded into an emergency vehicle and driven to the track Medical Care Center. Once there it was decided to move him via helicopter, to a local hospital for further evaluation. He was admitted shortly thereafter.
While all this was going on, Logano drove his 3rd place car onto pit road. Shortly thereafter Tony Stewart parked his car next to Logano and an old fashioned donnybrook occurred. Stewart threw a few punches towards Logano with Logano attempting to do the same. Stewart was upset with Logano for blocking him during the races final restart.
With Stewart lined up behind Logano for the restart, the cars seemed to slow as they neared the start/finish line. Stewart saw this as an opportunity and as they crossed the start/finish line, Stewart attempted to go underneath Logano and take his spot. Logano would have none of that and moved his car down to keep Stewart’s car behind him. Stewart obviously became very upset by Logano’s maneuvers but clearly it was just a racer trying to win a race. “What the hell do you think I was mad about?” Stewart said after the race. “Dumb (expletive) runs us clear down to the infield. He wants to (expletive) about everybody else and he’s the one who drives like a little (expletive). I’m going to bust his ass.” I love Stewart’s passion here but Logano did nothing any other driver, including Stewart, would have done in that position. The guy was trying to win a race. That’s what race car drivers do.
In what should have been a day of celebration for a race which was exciting from start to finish as any race we’ve seen in decades was dimmed by Hamlin’s injury. After the race Logano was interviewed and said about Hamlin, “He got what he deserved.” The twitter world and NASCAR nation erupted after that interview calling out Logano as classless and a jerk. In fairness, the interview happened prior to Logano knowing about any possible injury to Hamlin so we’ll cut him some slack for that. I’m sure Logano doesn’t feel bad about wrecking Hamlin but had no intention to hurt him. The blame for the wreck clearly lies with Logano but as they say, have at it boys!
The highly criticized Generation 6 car performed beautifully providing side-by-side racing all afternoon. Passing was plentiful and drivers were able to use multiple grooves in which to pass slower cars. It was just a wonderful day of racing under the warm California sun, sans the Hamlin injury. A week off and then on to Martinsville where we will see plenty of beating and banging of metal along with some driver temper tantrums.
Lost in all of the drama of the day was a victory by Kyle Busch. Busch had the car to beat most of the day but was running 3rd behind Logano and Hamlin and seemed destined to finish a disappointing 3rd until Hamlin and Logano took each other out of the lead. Busch was there to pounce on the opening and got a well deserved victory. Busch giggled after the race, “I did win the race today so that might be a story but I’m sure it’s not.”
With the victory Kyle Busch moved into 6th place in points gaining 4 positions. With another good finish Dale Earnhardt Jr. now leads the point standings followed by Brad Keselowski, Jimmy Johnson and Carl Edwards. NASCAR takes its usual Easter/Passover break this week. What a bummer for us NASCAR fans as we now have to wait two weeks for what promises to be another tempered filled event at the Martinsville Speedway. I can’t wait!
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