#11- Denny Hamlin hurled his HANS (head and neck support device) up the track toward rival Kevin Harvick’s #4 Chevrolet after Harvick spun him. Hamlin was leading the race Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway when the incident occurred on lap 161. Hamlin got the lead through pit strategy, but Harvick had been hounding him for several laps. As Hamlin drove into Turn 1, Harvick lost control of his car and slid up into Hamlin’s #11 Toyota, sending him spinning. After Hamlin bounced off the inside wall, he was hit by Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose #88 car lost one of its sides and all its safety foam. Hamlin waited on the safety crew before getting out of the car, following the new protocol set last week by NASCAR. But after gathering items from inside his car, he heaved the HANS device up the track toward Harvick’s car as it came back by under caution as safety workers stood by. Hamlin remained on the apron when he made the toss. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said after the race that it’s unlikely Hamlin will be penalized for throwing the device. Last Friday, NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton announced the sanctioning body was adding a rule to keep drivers in their cars after accidents and when races were under caution until safety crews arrive. Drivers cannot walk onto the track or toward another car. The rule came in the wake of a sprint car accident in upstate New York on Aug. 9 in which driver Kevin Ward Jr. was struck and killed by Tony Stewart’s car when Ward exited his car and walked down onto the racing surface.(USA Today)(8-24-2014)
