Hamlin has 'no excuses, just got beat' at Martinsville

There were multiple variables working against Denny Hamlin in the final laps of Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway that kept him from completing a dominating day.

But despite the car suddenly feeling different in the rear end, lapped traffic, and not having control of the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said there were “no excuses, just got beat.” Hamlin came up short to Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott, who took the lead off the final restart with 69 laps to go. It would take a few laps before Hamlin moved into second place and began his charge toward the lead, but it never amounted to being able to seriously pressure Elliott for the win.

“I don’t think he was really better anywhere; it was the ability to have the cleaner air for a longer period of time,” Hamlin said of the finish. “It made me heat my stuff up … once you’re in dirty air for an extended period of time, your car typically goes away.”

Hamlin chose the inside of the second row, third position, for the final restart. He’d already lost control of the race under the previous caution, on lap 311, when the field pitted for tires, but Ross Chastain stayed out. Chastain took control of the race and fended off Hamlin, who admitted he didn’t have a good restart, with 78 laps to go. It was not surprising to Hamlin to see someone make a run on older tires.

“The lap time fall off hasn’t really reached a second here at this track, and that’s typically when you’re going to want to pit every time for tires,” he said. “So, with him [Chastain] going long that green flag run, it gave him the option of when the caution comes out, to stay out because he didn’t have many laps on his tires.”

The final caution, one lap after the restart, gave Hamlin another chance. Instead, Elliott made the most of it and drove away.

“It’s different for sure,” Hamlin said of controlling the race versus running in dirty air. “These cars are so close in speed that track position definitely helps and we just lost control, but we still really didn’t have the car that last run. It’s stuff we’ll take a look at.

“But either way, once the [No.] 9 got out front, he could control the pace, which he did.”

Then, inside the final 50 laps, he began reporting that something felt wrong in the rear end of his Toyota. It felt similar to the issue Hamlin had at Darlington Raceway and, initially, he thought it might have been a loose wheel.

“Just under braking, it felt like the rear end was moving again,” said Hamlin, who took a look at the right side of the car with crew chief Chris Gayle after parking on pit road. “I don’t know. It’s just a feel. It could have been just a chassis change; you never know. But we’ll check it out.”

A win would have made Hamlin the first driver to score a perfect 76-point day. Hamlin instead netted 56 points and moved up one position in the championship standings to third.