Published 03/14/2023, 2:23 PM EDT
MADISON, ILLINOIS – JUNE 05: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota, looks on during the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway on June 05, 2022 in Madison, Illinois. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
In a new episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin discussed the incident of NASCAR removing hood louvers from all four Hedrick Motorsports cars. Since the removed parts were sent for examination to NASCAR’s R&D Center, no penalty regarding the same has been issued by the governing body yet. However, it seems that according to Hamlin, Hendrick Motorsports might be in some real trouble.
While talking about the use of louvers in cars, Hamlin explained that a louver is like a vent set on top of a hood. Furthermore, he said,
“Basically, the air comes into the radiator through the front of the car—underneath whatever label they have, the Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota—goes in through there, goes through the radiator, and then out these louvers. And those louvers then shoot the air either either over the car or around the side of the car or whatever.”
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via Imago DAYTONA, FL – FEBRUARY 17: Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick and team president Jeff Gordon prior to the running of the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 on February 17, 2022 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 17 NASCAR Cup Series – Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona Icon220217768
However, admitting that he is not completely sure about the intricacies of the issues pointed out by NASCAR, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver added,
“I am not fully educated, I wish I would’ve sent out some texts last night. But I didn’t. About you know, I guess Hendrick is saying or Jeff Gordon is saying there was some fit issues. Or maybe the media saying that there were some fit issues. And then NASCAR says ‘Hey! We recognize that there’s issues with the fit of these, in the meantime don’t touch them.”
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Why does Denny Hamlin feel Hendrick Motorsports is in trouble?
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During his conversation, Denny Hamlin reminisced about his and Kyle Busch‘s disqualification at Pocono last year. He pointed out that even though they had not altered any part of the cars, they still had to face disqualification. Explaining how just thickening the wrap over the top of a part got them in trouble, Hamlin said that maybe HMS had tried to tamper the louvers. He said,
“These (hood louvers) are really, really important pieces of a car. Again, let’s be honest though, they could have put box-stock louvers which they probably did on their cars and they still were rocket fast on Sunday. But despite these are very, very important part of a car just like the front noses are to be honest with you. So, I think …I am gonna make complete assumptions as I do not have the facts…is that they probably were messing with the edges and the openings of those louvers.”
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Even though these are just assumptions, there are chances that Hamin is right about the team making changes to the parts. And owing to this, it becomes clear why the 23XI Racing co-owner feels like HMS is in real trouble.
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