Denny Hamlin Makes Shocking Claim After 23-Car NASCAR Wreck
Denny Hamlin made a shocking claim by saying that the 23-car wreck in Atlanta was the "best thing that ever happened" to the NASCAR Cup Series race. Notably, Hamlin was part of what triggered the massive pile-up after he made contact with John Hunter Nemechek on Lap 69.
The impact caused Nemechek to hit the wall, leading him to take out several other cars at the same time. Many big names from the field were affected by the incident, including Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, and Kyle Larson.
Hamlin believed that the wreck created space between the cars, which wasn't present earlier. He said on his Actions Detrimental podcast:
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 King's Hawaiian Toyota, waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart at Echo Park Speedway...
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 King's Hawaiian Toyota, waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart at Echo Park Speedway on June 28, 2025 in Hampton, Georgia. More"That wreck was the best thing that happened to that race. There's no question about it whatsoever. What it did was it created space between the cars. We're not log-jammed two by two by two by two by two. There was space.
"There was only 15 cars, maybe, that were not damaged. If you look, all the passing that was done at the end of that race, it was created through space of the cars, and that's what we used to have on superspeedways is space to work."
He added:
"Atlanta cleared out the field to create the space to create great racing."
Chase Elliott went on to win the Atlanta race, while drivers like Corey LaJoie remarked that drivers were pushing like they were driving "bumper cars at Frankie's Fun park." Addressing the crash after watching the replay, he said:
"We see people pushing like dummies early, and then I just come in here and get pushed into it. I come out of the smoke and every corner on my Mustang was knocked off of it. Unfortunately, that was the end of my day.
"I don't know what we're doing. We just started the second stage. I don't know why we're pushing like we're damn bumper cars at Frankie's Fun park. That's not to be surprised. I think there's a lot of guys who don't make wise decisions driving these things on speedways."
Chase Briscoe added that he was not allowed to go back into the race. He said:
"Yeah, I don't know how bad our damage was. They were fixing it, and we were about ready to go, and I guess NASCAR came over there and saw that our chassis was broke or bent or something and were like, you can't go back out. So, kind of a waste of 30 minutes working on it. Just unfortunate night for our Bass Pro Shops Toyota."
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