Friday, June 6, 2008

Loose In Turn Three, But Wreckin out of Turn Two in Dover

When a wreck happens, the yellow comes out.. the the yellow comes out, the field is frozen. When the field is frozen, you stop throttling the car.. it seems pretty simple to me. My disclaimer is that I was not in the car, and I am not sure when the yellow came out so I am OK with any corrections and what not, BUT with that said:

With that wreck in Dover on Lap 19, it was a high dollar value wreck that dragged some top 12 teams into the junk yard. Dale Earnhardt Jr was pretty much right behind the wreck and he got whoa'd up enough to not total his or another car, but what's with Mr "You throw a Rock, I'll Throw a Brick Back" Hamlin? He was much further back than Jr. and still managed to plow pretty hard into the No 19 Dodge of Sadler. On one good replay angle, it seems that Hamlin isn't even in turn 2 when Sadler starts his tire dance. He said he didn't want to stop suddenly to get hit from behind... Eh?

Hamlin passed a few cars that had avoided slamming into the melee at a rapid rate before hitting Sadler. So my question is more a statement, but I think Denny Hamlin could have avoided hitting as hard as he did because he probably could have slowed down a heck of a lot more... What's your guys take?


Tim: Honestly, I think folks came down on Denny Hamlin much harder than what the guy deserved. When the wreck happened, Denny was just coming out of Turn 2, which it's my understanding that it's very tough to see right there. These guys are already carrying a ton of speed at a track like Dover, and you've got to remember that just because we see the yellow come out on tv doesn't necessarily mean that the drivers do, too. They have to rely on their spotters and on the caution lights to tell them. Watching the replay, by the way, it looked like when the drivers first got a real indication that there was a pileup mounting, Bobby LaBonte and Scott Riggs were right behind him. Labonte ducked to the bottom of the
track, and Riggs just plowed his way right through. You can also see Hamlin trying to slow down, because his car was starting to slide when he hit Sadler. Just the nature of the beast, in my opinion.

Charlie: The comments that I heard during the broadcast surprised me. I thought it obvious that Hamlin either couldn't see the extent of the wreck or his spotter gave him late or bad info. Who knows what happened but my benefit of the doubt goes to Denny.

Courtesy of YouTube


(YouTube - a back up link in case the embedded part doesn't work here.)

Charlie Turner - Who is the most under-rated driver in NASCAR and how is he over-looked relative to his talent/value? On Pit Row

Tim Zaegel - Joe Gibbs Racing has won four times in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but in two years, they are the only Toyota team to win a race in Cup racing. Will a non-JGR driver reach Victory Lane in 2008? DoYouNASCAR

6 comments:

  1. I also have to agree with Charlie's statement on that ... I was pretty surprised by how hard the broadcast booth came down on Denny. Yet, a little later, DW was all sortsa ready to defend little brother, Mikey.

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  2. Racer's will tell you that when a crash happens in front of you, the first glance they take is in the mirrors. I believe what Hamlin said about that. Is it possible that he may have had a split second of indecesion too? Of course. He's human after-all. Racing deal - put a stamp on it.

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  3. I'm getting in the same boat you guys are in.

    At first I thought, Wow, Sadler started his wall scuffing spin, hits the wall 2 seconds later and then Denny contributed to the fender fray 8 seconds later.

    I was focused on how he passed a few folk who were in front of him and had slowed down..

    But this is what racing is all about and sometimes these things happen.

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  4. Wow, Charlie ... there's something we don't hear everyday from the media ... folks giving drivers the benefit of the doubt because they're "human". Good point.

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  5. I wonder what Sadler did to fire Stewart up? I missed something this year. Well, I've missed a lot actually, but that for sure.

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  6. Charlie, take a look at this ...

    http://doyounascar.com/feud-of-the-week-sadler-wrecks-stewart-again/

    As far as I know, it all started back in Darlington when Sadler wrecked Stewart on the 2nd lap of the race. Stewart had the fastest car by the end of the night, but he never got the opportunity to get back on the lead lap.

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