Denny Hamlin was hardly surprised to see Michael McDowell involved in a wreck off the restart with nine laps to go in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire.
In fact, Hamlin called it once he saw McDowell was starting on the front row in the P3 position. The only thing is, Hamlin figured it’d be as a result of McDowell racing Christopher Bell hard for the lead, not Ryan Blaney for second, he said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday.
“You should play my radio before we went green,” Hamlin said. “When they told me the 34 was on the front row with the 20, I literally said, ‘Uh oh, I see this one coming.’ And then first corner, caution’s out, 34. Saw that one coming. The only thing is he didn’t crash actually with the 20. I thought if he crashed it was gonna be because he drove in on the 20, and then the explanation to me of ‘well I gotta do everything I can because I’m in this situation,’ you’re not gonna do it from third place though. You’re not gonna win the race from third. So, you gotta get around Blaney cleanly and then go ahead and if you wanna make a move on the 20, go right ahead.
“I side with Ryan on this one. Very low percentage move and it wasn’t the move to win the race. It was for second place. You gotta get to second before you can make a crazy move. It’s like someone saying running seventh, ‘Ah, just had to do it because I needed a win.’ Yeah, but you’re seventh, it’s not for the win. Second place is not for the win.”
Going back to green on a fresh set of wet weather tires, you knew McDowell was going to be aggressive, seeing as he likely needs a win to qualify for the Cup Series playoffs. And so, McDowell essentially dived into Turn 1 off the restart, but just didn’t have the necessary grip needed to make it stick. He collected Blaney, ruining both of their chances of winning at New Hampshire.
Ryan Blaney rips ‘moron’ Michael McDowell after McDowell wrecks him at New Hampshire
Blaney was irate with McDowell in the moment, going scorched Earth on McDowell over his radio.
“What the f*** did he think was going to happen there? … I know exactly what happened. He bombed it in there like a moron,” Blaney said, via Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic.
McDowell came up to Blaney to apologize which while Blaney appreciated, it doesn’t make a P25 finish feel any better.
“He said he was sorry that he wrecked me,” Blaney told NBC after the race. “The apology is nice, but not gonna bring back what he did. I knew what he was trying to do. It was a low percentage move, it’s wet down there and you’re just gonna drive it down in there, what do you think is gonna happen. Like, you’re gonna take both of us out.
“I know he’s gotta win and all that, and that’s his excuse, but be a little more calculated in that. He just thinks we were at the expense of it.”
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