NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin revealed that a heated exchange occurred behind the scenes during Saturday night’s Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports won the Quaker State 400 after a wild 260-lap race that featured several red flags and major crashes. One of the biggest wrecks happened on lap 69 when Hamlin lost control in the middle of the pack, triggering a chain-reaction crash that took out nearly half the field.
Unfortunately for Joe Gibbs Racing, both Hamlin and his teammate Chase Briscoe were involved in the incident. Both the No. 11 (Hamlin) and No. 19 (Briscoe) cars had to head to the garage for repairs.
Thanks to NASCAR’s updated Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) for 2025, teams are now allowed to repair cars that make it back to the garage—whether driven or towed—provided the car can be safely returned to racing. Under the old rules, these cars would have been automatically out of the race.
Hamlin was able to benefit from this rule change. After repairs, he got back on track 109 laps down before ultimately retiring. Briscoe, however, wasn’t as fortunate. NASCAR officials stopped the repairs on the No. 19 car, declaring it too damaged to continue.
According to Hamlin, Briscoe’s crew chief, James Small, was furious over NASCAR’s decision. Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin described how Small got into a heated, face-to-face confrontation with a top NASCAR official after being told that Briscoe was out of the race—despite the team working on the car for an hour.
Hamlin explained that officials determined something on Briscoe’s car was bent beyond repair. He acknowledged that perhaps NASCAR missed this during their initial inspection, but the decision left Small extremely angry.
Hamlin finished 31st at Atlanta, while Briscoe placed 35th. Although the result won’t greatly affect their overall seasons, both drivers were knocked out of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge after their early exits, with Ty Dillon and Noah Gragson moving on from their respective matchups.
