Denny Hamlin’s bad luck turned into even worse luck in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway, all because he was a little too fast on pit road.
Hamlin started the day 2nd in the standings, 49 points behind points leader Kyle Larson. The driver of the No. 11 car had finished 2nd in Stage 1 and 8th in Stage 2 while Larson earned no stage points.
Hamlin had to pit from the 4th position after his right rear tire went down. Fortunately, Hamlin made it to pit road to change the tires with 89 laps to go.
The caution came out for Cody Ware spinning in Turn 1 as Hamlin had already pitted and was exiting.
Hamlin was scored as the first car one lap down when the caution came out; normally he would be in position for the free pass to get back on the lead lap. But because Hamlin was penalized for speeding on the entry to pit road and was still on pit road when the caution came out, he was ineligible for the free pass under Section 8.5.4.F and Section 8.5.4.G, which read:
F: Vehicles under penalty at the time of caution, in the garage, behind pit wall, or on pit road for an extended time, as determined by NASCAR, will be ineligible for the free pass and the next eligible vehicle will receive it instead.
G: Vehicles serving a pass-through or lap penalty must exit pit road before becoming eligible for the free pass. A vehicle will be considered to have exited pit road when the leading edge of the vehicle has crossed the pit-out scoring line.
Instead, Erik Jones was awarded the free pass. Hamlin could not take the wave-around to get back on the lead lap either, since that would have negated the penalty.
One more caution came after Larson’s right tire went down and his car hit the wall, which left Larson with a 34th-place finish. Jones was in position again to receive the free pass, so Hamlin could not get back on the lead lap.
Hamlin finished 28th and dropped two spots to 4th in the standings, 31 points behind Larson.
Image Credit: Toyota Racing
