Denny Hamlin’s drive in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway ended prematurely on Lap 2 of 110.
Hamlin, who started the race in 25th place, watched his engine blow up as he crossed the finish line in Sonoma after only two laps.
In his own words, “certainly not ideal.” “No, no [indication],” Hamlin told Fox Sports’ Jamie Little. “Just the gearing is a touch off for the track.
There’s a lot of high-end RPM stuff—the same as everyone else—and it just blew out on Lap 2. Not sure.
They’ll look into it and work it out, but it’s obviously not ideal.”
Hamlin entered Sunday’s race as the points leader, having tallied five consecutive top-five finishes dating back to his win at Dover in late April. Instead of continuing that hot streak, his Sonoma woes continued. Hamlin will now have finished P31 or worse in his last three starts at the road course.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing having tough day at Sonoma
Hamlin isn’t the only Joe Gibbs Racing driver to have problems at Sonoma, as Martin Truex Jr. went for an early spin and Ty Gibbs blew a tire and hit the wall. Gibbs is a DNF after his crew failed to make repairs in time.
The newly paved Sonoma has certainly taken its toll on several drivers, always an uncertainty until the green flag waves.
“There’s definitely a lot of patches on it, but everything looked pretty smooth,” Hamlin said this week. “I haven’t noticed any part of the track that you could feel patches. Certainly, you can see them, but you can’t feel them, so overall I think it ended up a net pretty good result, considering all the extra work they had to put into it.”
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