Denny Hamlin was hardly surprised to see Michael McDowell involved in a wreck off the restart with nine laps to go in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire.
In fact, Hamlin called it once he saw McDowell was starting on the front row in the P3 position. The only thing is, Hamlin figured it’d be as a result of McDowell racing Christopher Bell hard for the lead, not Ryan Blaney for second, he said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday.
“You should play my radio before we went green,” Hamlin said. “When they told me the 34 was on the front row with the 20, I literally said, ‘Uh oh, I see this one coming.’ And then first corner, caution’s out, 34. Saw that one coming. The only thing is he didn’t crash actually with the 20. I thought if he crashed it was gonna be because he drove in on the 20. And then the explanation to me of ‘well I gotta do everything I can because I’m in this situation,’ you’re not gonna do it from third place though. You’re not gonna win the race from third. So, you gotta get around Blaney cleanly and then go ahead. And if you wanna make a move on the 20, go right ahead.
“I side with Ryan on this one. Very low percentage move and it wasn’t the move to win the race. It was for second place. You gotta get to second before you can make a crazy move. It’s like someone saying running seventh, ‘Ah, just had to do it because I needed a win.’ Yeah, but you’re seventh, it’s not for the win. Second place is not for the win.”
Going back to green on a fresh set of wet weather tires, you knew McDowell was going to be aggressive, seeing as he likely needs a win to qualify for the Cup Series playoffs. And so, McDowell essentially dived into Turn 1 off the restart, but just didn’t have the necessary grip needed to make it stick. He collected Blaney, ruining both of their chances of winning at New Hampshire.
