Hamlin fined $25k for criticizing Gen-6 car
A furious Denny Hamlin says he won’t pay the $25,000 fine leveled on him by NASCAR on Thursday after his criticism of the Gen-6 race car. The fine also leaves many of his fellow drivers wondering what they can say about their new cars without incurring NASCAR’s wrath.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A furious Denny Hamlin says he won’t pay the $25,000 fine leveled on him by NASCAR on Thursday after his criticism of the Gen-6 race car.
The fine also leaves many of his fellow drivers wondering what they can say about their new cars without incurring NASCAR’s wrath.
Hamlin couldn’t understand why he was at the center of NASCAR’s latest tempest over its drivers’ media comments. He compared the new race car unfavorably to last year’s car, along with lamenting the overall quality of racing last week in Phoenix.
Although Hamlin’s brief comments were barely noticed last weekend, NASCAR — clearly concerned about the Gen-6 car’s public perception — leveled a significant fine against him before Thursday’s open test of the new car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Ultimately, I’m not OK with it,” Hamlin said outside his hauler after the morning test. “This is the most upset and angry I’ve been in a really, really long time about anything that relates to NASCAR.”
Hamlin actually ran well last Sunday in the second race for NASCAR’s new Gen-6 race car in Phoenix, finishing third in a fairly dull race that featured no passes for the lead in the final 189 laps of Carl Edwards’ victory.
But when Hamlin was asked on pit road how he liked the car, he said: “I don’t want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our generation five cars. This is more like what the generation five was at the beginning.”
More from around the web
RSS Feeds