Oh, constant variety of sport! The thrill of victory! The agony of defeat! While Joey Logano enjoyed the former at the conclusion of this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Kevin Harvick shared the latter. On lap 161, Harvick misjudged leader Hamlin’s corner exit speed, bumped the tail of the FedEx-liveried Toyota and sent Denny sliding into the wall at the bottom of the track. On his return bounce, Hamlin’s car clipped the side of Dale Jr.’s Chevy, ripping the bodywork open.
Frustrated, Hamlin hurled his HANS at Harvick’s under-caution car. Dang. It’s a long way from the famed Cale Yarborough/Donnie Allison brawl of Daytona ’79. It’s also against new safety rules firmed up by NASCAR VP of competition and racing development Robin Pemberton in the wake of the fatal Tony Stewart/Kevin Ward, Jr. incident.
- Kurt Busch Unabridged: On Running a Double, His Separation from Penske, and More
- Investigation Into Kevin Ward, Jr.’s Death Likely Hinges on Shaky 65-second Video
- Chevrolet SS Research: Photos, Reviews, News, and More
Still, there’s something about hurling a HANS device onto the racetrack that just oozes petulant, impotent rage. Not even charmingly retrograde, it’s just kind of sad. Having said that, Denny did at least manage to hit Harvick’s car, so he’s got that goin’ for him. He’s definitely the one driver in the mess we’d take to the carnival midway as a ringer.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1zur611
via IFTTT
