MARTINSVILLE, Va — Denny Hamlin looked to be in control of Sunday’s Championship 4 cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway. Within the first 120 laps, the No. 11 car raced from its ninth starting position to the lead.
In a race where clean air was believed to be king, Hamlin showed the ability to pass. He cruised to the stage wins in both the first and second stages. All was looking well for Hamlin entering the second half of the race, as he outscored William Byron by 20 points and Ross Chastain by 16 markers.
The No. 11 Toyota controlled the beginning portion of the third stage. But after Austin Dillon had a brake rotor explode on lap 319, Christopher Bell took the lead on pit road. Hamlin’s crew lost three positions, dropping him to fourth.
“When you come on pit road seven, eight times, the chances of you having a bad stop are pretty high,” Hamlin said. “These guys are trying to go fast and there are some great athletes on these teams.”
Unfortunately, the bleeding on pit road didn’t stop there for the No. 11 team. After a caution for JJ Yeley spinning with just over 100 laps remaining, Hamlin lost two more positions on pit road.
Still, Hamlin was in good shape. He had more speed than Chastain, who for the majority of the race, ran outside the top 10. It would come down to a points battle between the two, should a playoff driver below the cutline were to win.
But the No. 11 team’s final spot of the day was its worst at 14.5 seconds with just over 30 laps remaining. Hamlin would restart 12th on four fresh tires.
“They took us out of control of the race; clearly we were dominant,” Chris Gabehart, crew chief of the No. 11 car, said. “I think we gave up four spots: the first one, [two] the next one and another five the last one.
“It’s just too many. But that’s the theme. We’ve been that way all year long. We’ve given up spots all year on pit road and today, it was just too many.”
It made Hamlin’s job tougher from the driver’s seat, as Chastain was ahead of him in 11th. The No. 11 car had its worst track position of the day, back in 12th.
“The last one had some issues,” Hamlin added. “I think they couldn’t get [the car] up, but they were very solid throughout the playoffs. I’m not going to throw the bus over them because those guys are trying. There’s nobody that wants to win as much as the pit crew. They are trying as hard as they can, but mistakes happen.”
After Kyle Busch was eliminated from the playoffs at Bristol, the Nos. 11 and 18 teams made a pit crew swap, trying to better the No. 11 team’s performance.
Hamlin knew it was going to be an uphill battle. But he made quick work of Chastain with a little bumping and gauging. At the time, the advantage went to the No. 11 car, needing to outrun Chastain by three spots.
“He just started passing cars,” Chastain said. “He passed one after the other after the other. He took me to school. It’s something that I’ll never forget.
“He passed five cars and I passed zero. I passed one later, two later, but I was still too many out. That’s something that I will never forget, the fact that I had full confidence. Denny put on a clinic of passing here, getting everything out of his car.”
But on the final lap, Chastain made a Hail Mary attempt entering Turn 3 and drove his car full throttle off the wall, learning from NASCAR 2005 on a game cube. He gained five positions, enough to beat Hamlin for the final transfer spot as Bell won the race.
More looks at @RossChastain's move to advance to the CHAMPIONSHIP! pic.twitter.com/GA0rwVRLTM
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 30, 2022
“You’ve got to race inside these walls and he found a way to do it better than us on the last lap,” Hamlin stated.
When the checkered flag waved, Hamlin was four points below the cutline, which was a tie between Chastain and Chase Elliott.
In nine playoff races, Hamlin has eight top-10 finishes — more than his eight in the regular season — and an average finish of sixth. He’s proud of the team’s will, despite coming up short of a fourth straight Championship 4 appearance.
“I cannot thank [the team] enough for giving me a race-winning car,” Hamlin said, “but you’ve got to have all the pieces of the puzzle together and the one thing that hurt us this year and kept us from having five, six wins in the regular season is the same thing that bit us today. That’s our fault.”
As for the pit crew, Gabehart says it’s an immediate concern and something that needs to be addressed.
“It’s the primary emphasis in my view,” Gabehart added. “The No. 11 has won two races this year and should have won six, today would have been seven. The majority of them have been losing control at key times on pit road. That’s just the facts.
“I love everybody’s effort and how hard we work at it. I’m not discrediting the work, but this is professional sports and the sport’s highest level and the first thing you’ve got to do is look in the mirror and be honest with yourself and that’s the truth. That’s where we lack.”