Denny Hamlin’s crew was overhauled Wednesday, three days after the driver blamed the group for costing him a win.
Hamlin was critical of his crew after Sunday’s race at Darlington (Va.) Raceway, where he led a race-high 179 laps but couldn’t contend for the win because of an error during a late pit stop. He was in second when he entered the pits, but two lug nuts were dropped and Hamlin plummeted to 16th.
Although he rallied to finish second, he was furious with his crew and rattled off a list of races he should have won this season. Hamlin, who won two races and finished third in the points last year as a rookie, is winless this season despite having led a series-high 563 laps in the five Car of Tomorrow races.
“If we lose by 20, 30 points when it comes down to the championship, we know exactly where we lost it, and that’s on pit road,” Hamlin said. “I gave away Phoenix, that’s my fault. But there’s two to three other races that we had the best car most all day, and even at the end, and just gave it away on pit road.”
Ryan Newman’s team kicked off NASCAR’s all-star week activities by winning the Nextel Pit Crew Challenge in Charlotte, N.C., beating Bobby Labonte’s team in the final round.
Newman’s seven-member crew changed four tires, filled the car with gas and pushed it 40 yards in 24.66 seconds to collect the $70,300 first prize.
Hamlin’s team lost in the quarterfinals.
IRL: John Andretti, who has spent the past dozen years in NASCAR, joined Panther Racing as a teammate of Vitor Meira and Kosuke Matsuura for the May 27 Indy 500. It would be his first competition in the Indy Racing League, which began two years after his last appearance in an Indy car in 1994.
“Overwhelming would be an understatement,” said Andretti, who grew up in Indianapolis and attended school less than a mile from the famed track.
“I drove by here when I went to high school, and your whole life is centered around it, so to get back after a long hiatus is good,” he said. “It’s going to be exciting for me.”
The 44-year-old nephew of former Indy winner Mario Andretti and cousin of Michael and Marco Andretti drove in seven Indy 500s from 1988-94. His best finish was fifth in 1991.
John Andretti, who still must take the final two phases of a refresher test, did not practice Wednesday. Meira tested Andretti’s car, though, and had a top lap of just over 215 mph.
The fastest among the 27 drivers on the track was Danica Patrick at 221.189. Scott Dixon was next at 220.556, followed by defending champion Sam Hornish Jr. at 220.484 and Marco Andretti at 220.399.
Seven drivers who have not yet qualified also were on the track, with Jacques Lazier the quickest at just over 217 mph. The others included Jimmy Kite, who crashed in turn one after 19 laps but was not injured.
“I wasn’t going fast enough to hit anything that hard,” said Kite, whose top speed was only 204.193 mph. “We were just shaking the car down. I don’t know if something broke or what.”
