Denny Hamlin claims he isnt concerned about Next-Gen cars flipping during races

Though safety was not the priority in the early days of motor racing, it has evolved to become one of the biggest aspects of contemporary racing. However, the race at Michigan raised multiple eyebrows at Next-Gen cars. During the weekend, Kyle Seig and Corey LaJoie became the victims of new generation of cars being trigger-happy and flipping over. Despite such instances, Denny Hamlin came forward and asserted that he was not worried about the possibility of the newer cars flipping over.

In 1994, NASCAR introduced roof flaps to stop the cars from getting airborne. This feature is mandated across the board, but its effectiveness has seen a major dip in recent times. During the Xfinity race on Saturday, Kyle Seig took off after a collision with another car. Similarly, Corey LaJoie‘s Chevy became airborne after losing control of the No.7 car.

This raised a debate within the NASCAR garages about whether the Next-Gen cars are safe for their drivers. While multiple drivers and experts lamented the design philosophy, Denny Hamlin surprisingly joined in to defend the Next-Gen cars.

Yes. It’s not a concern on my end. Yes (I’d rather flip over) than hit a wall. I guess statistically speaking there’s always anomalies. There’s always instances where cars go airborne, and we had that incident at Talladega with Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman. 

Denny Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

The JGR driver further elaborated on his point and claimed that he would rather flip over in a car crash than collide with the wall as the risk of being injured is tremendously high when a driver collides with the wall. However, he did not discard the possibility of the car ending up in the catch fence which is quite scary, but deemed colliding with the wall more dangerous than flipping in his car.

We’ve had cars get up in the catch fences and there’s been some collateral damage from that. But generally speaking I feel like from a driver safety perspective we haven’t had a whole lot of flips equal bad injuries. We’ve had contact with wall equal bad injuries.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin questions NASCAR on late-race cautions

NASCAR has witnessed six races going into overtime so far this season, with the race at Nashville being the most intense one as it witnessed five overtime restarts. However, overtime restarts have been considered to create artificial tension causing drivers to bemoan their presence in the first place.

On the other hand, the race at Michigan saw overtime restarts, which was started by the domino effect of Ross Chastain colliding with the wall on lap 186. However, he maintained a decent pace after hitting the wall, but NASCAR threw out the caution leading to the first overtime attempt.

I just think that listen, he hit the wall there's no question about that. I don't know think he went below a 100 miles an hour, like he kept going at a decent rate of speed. Did it warrant a caution? No, has it been a caution in other circumstances? Yes, so it's just one of those 50/50 calls adn they chose to do it. My only question is it seems like they are starting that getting quick on that trigger finger again.

Denny Hamlin said

The trigger happiness of the stewards infuriated the JGR driver. He further claimed that recently, NASCAR officials have been quite fast at deploying late-race cautions, which they need to taper back upon. Moreover, such allegations have been made by other drivers in the past, but no action has been taken till now and a similar practice is anticipated to continue for longer.

In case you missed it:

ncG1vNJzZmiemafAtb%2FPqKmtsl6YvK57zZqqnJmiYrGmus2yZKGZnaG2r3nCpZiipaNitaZ5yKylrWWTpLuksdGnnJ1lkZe8tsCMp5yxrF2csq95wpqprGWWobaxvMinnmacpae2r7OMq5icnaNk