Shouldn't Denny Hamlin have like pitted when he first realized he had a flat tire?

Question

He knew he was in the way, he said so on the radio like 5 laps earlier. He was the cause of the caution.

Answer 1

well.....looking back on it now, sure. But at the time he figured he could make it, obviously so did his crew chief. So....??? Sometimes your right, and sometimes your wrong.

Answer 2

Yes, he should have, but his whole intention was to stay out, and get a caution, so his teammate Wreckless Busch could have a better shot of winning. As it turned out, he got a two lap penalty, and Wreckless took out Earnhardt. Good thing Bowyer was there to take the win away from Busch......

Answer 3

This is exactly what caused the Busch-Earnhardt Jr accident......Hamlin was told to stay out when any other time he would have pitted to change the tire. By staying out he brings out a caution and Busch gets a 2nd chance on a restart becasue #88 was pulling away. Joe Gibbs racing should really be spanked for this!

Answer 4

Yes... but with only a few laps to go.. most any team would have tried to make it.  If it had not blown, he would have probably finished 12th or 13th whereas with a blown tire he finished 24th. He definitely should have pitted though.. because the #88 had the race in the bag... then lost it.

Answer 5

Very poor decision.  He should be docked points for stopping on the track when he could have easily made it to pit road.  He did it on purpose to bring out the caution.  Earnhrdt got docked 25 points at Bristol a few years ago for that.

Answer 6

They should have black flagged his butt.

That was a cheap shot to try and help out Busch.

Seems like F1 racing....

Answer 7

Yes he should had. I'm glad his plan to help Kyle didn't pan through. And no I'm not a Dale Jr fan. I just dont care for dumbo boy.

Answer 8

Yes he should have pitted. If for no other reason then he took the chance of it blowing out and potentially taking out other cars. It is the drivers responsibility to go to the pits when they know there is a problem with there car, and the responsibility of the crew chief. When you stay out knowing you may wreck others you should have to pay the piper. A two lap penalty is nothing compared to having points taken away or a huge fine being imposed.

Answer 9

Yes i was there. They said he wasnt sure. HAHA..if he kept falling back im sure something was wrong with his tire!!..And they said that he stopped after turn 4 so that nascar would throw the caution..And if he would have pitted then Dale jr would not have been wrecked and would have ended his losing streak.

Answer 10

On the TV broadcast, they played a comment from his spotter that his tire looked fine and the pit chief saying to make sure it was a flat.  The TV announcers were also not sure when they looked at the tire if was flat or not.  

So if your Denny, it's a call of trusting your instincts or the crew you've got.  With the end so near in sight at a track where a win means so much to the driver and conflicting information; I'd allow anyone a 5 lap indecision.

Answer 11

I don't know about that.  There weren't that many laps left and to pit would mean to lose that many more spots in the pack.  At that point in the race you want to finish with as best a spot as you can get thats what he was trying to do.

Answer 12

With as many laps that were left, ANY driver would have pushed their luck and tried to get to the end.  His gamble bit him in the *** and we all know what happened.

Answer 13

In my opinion, yes. He obviously had a great car. If he had pitted quickly and returned to the track he had a chance to move back up. But it was one of those Monday morning quarterbacking sort of deals with hindsight.

Answer 14

He should have won that race! He was trying to finish the race without pitting poor Denny!