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Denny Hamlin suffered the worst crash of his career at Talladega Superspeedway which sent the driver to an area hosptial overnight for observation. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) ยป More Photos
Denny Hamlin said he seriously considered skipping Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway while he heals up from the savage impact he took at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday. But the Virginia native said he and his doctors decided it was safe to race, both for himself and those around him.
“We don’t have to race, but I feel like I have an obligation to my sponsors and everyone to come out here and race and I feel up to it,” Hamlin said Thursday at LMS. “I feel like I couldn’t stand sitting this race out. I think there’s a lot of people that question that, but I think if I had any question in my mind about it I wouldn’t do it because I have nothing to lose.”
Hamlin was leading Sunday’s AMP Energy 500 at Talladega when a right-front tire exploded on his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, hurtling it hard from the bottom of Turn 3 into the outside wall. He said he had no idea as to the cause of the failure.
“Usually I have been pretty good in the last three years of diagnosing them when a tire is starting to go down,” he said. “When it gets a cut and starts to go down, I can feel it. That one was just an absolute blow out and it was just an explosion so it had to be some type of malfunction.”
Hamlin spent Sunday night in a Birmingham hospital before being released Monday. Asked if he had suffered a concussion in the crash, Hamlin was vague. “There’s several different diagnosis I guess you could say,” he said. “Either way a head injury is a head injury, but I think it’s in my best interest to sit tomorrow night’s (NASCAR Nationwide Series) race out and kind of play it by ear. Dr. Petty (Jerry, a Charlotte-based neurosurgeon) checked me out and seemed all good. They let me go in Alabama and I’m confident and they know what they’re talking about. What they see is looking fine so we’re ready to go.”
Asked about the extent of his injuries, Hamlin added, “A lot of different things, there are a lot of different things. Of course there are some body parts and what not — your arms and your feet that get banged up. My head got hit pretty good
Hamlin said his recovery is ongoing. “I feel OK,” he said. “Definitely each day is a little bit better for sure. I definitely still feel it — that’s for sure. It was definitely the hardest hit that I’ve ever had. Hopefully that will be the hardest hit that I ever have in my career because I couldn’t imagine it being much worse.”
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to
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