Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, has openly criticized Corey LaJoie for instigating a multi-car accident during the second stage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Hamlin, who was involved in the wreck, expressed his frustration on X (formerly Twitter), pointing the finger directly at LaJoie, who drives for Spire Motorsports.
The incident in question occurred on Lap 61 of the 160-lap race, as LaJoie and Noah Gragson were racing side-by-side within the top-15 positions. LaJoie, piloting the #7 car for Spire Motorsports, was seen pushing Gragson aggressively. This pressure eventually led Gragson to lose control of his car, resulting in a spin that triggered a chaotic multi-car pileup. LaJoie’s car was also caught in the wreckage.
Denny Hamlin was among the 17 drivers who became entangled in the crash during the second stage of the race. The incident sparked debate among fans and analysts online, with some questioning who was truly at fault. NASCAR content creator Eric Estepp, for instance, cautiously posed the question on X, asking his followers if LaJoie was to blame for the incident.
“Man…. don’t tell me the No. 7 caused it,” Estepp wrote, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding the wreck.
Hamlin, however, had no such hesitation in assigning blame. In a direct response to Estepp’s tweet, he accused LaJoie of causing the pileup, stating plainly, “7 caused it.”
The crash in Stage 2 not only collected Hamlin but also took out several other prominent drivers, including Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, and Austin Dillon. As a result, Elliott, Hamlin, Gragson, and Preece were all forced to retire from the race, while the others managed to continue competing for the checkered flag.
For Hamlin, the crash added insult to injury, as he was already grappling with a penalty earlier in the race for an engine inspection violation. This penalty dropped him from third to eighth in the driver standings, jeopardizing his playoff position with just one race left in the regular season.
Following the race, Denny Hamlin provided further insight into what he believed caused the multi-car wreck at Daytona. The veteran driver suggested that the varying strategies employed by different drivers during the lengthy second stage played a significant role in the crash. According to Hamlin, while most drivers were conserving fuel, a few were aggressively pushing to gain track position, which ultimately led to the chaotic incident.
Hamlin explained his perspective to Bob Pockrass during a media interview after his early exit from the race: “Everyone was going a little harder in the first stage because we were inside the fuel window there. But the second stage, there was definitely some fuel saving going on which allowed some cars to be more aggressive because they wanted to get track position. I think it was just a combination of some people didn’t want to go, some people did, and obviously, it caused the wreck.”
From Hamlin’s viewpoint, he had no chance to avoid the wreck. He described feeling boxed in, with no room to escape the unfolding chaos. Reflecting on the incident, Hamlin noted, “Not from where I was at, I was boxed in. Saw the #7 turn in front of us. I didn’t see anything other than that.”
As the regular season nears its conclusion, Hamlin finds himself in eighth place in the standings, trailing points leader Tyler Reddick by 111 points. With just one race left before the playoffs, Hamlin’s playoff hopes hang in the balance, adding even more pressure as the season heads into its final stretch at Darlington Raceway.
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