Denny Hamlin has every right to be frustrated.
The first Sprint Cup race he’s missed since becoming the full-time driver of the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing is rapidly approaching. Martinsville is one of his best tracks statistically, and he’ll be atop his team’s pit box next to crew chief Darian Grubb while Mark Martin drives the car.
As you’ve read, oh, fifty, sixty, seventy times since that race on March 24, the injury Hamlin suffered came when after he and Joey Logano made contact in turns three and four on the final lap at Auto Club Speedway. After the two banged sidepanels and drifted towards the outside wall, Hamlin’s car made a hard left turn and went careening towards the inside wall. An inside wall that didn’t have a SAFER barrier. Hamlin suffered a compression fracture to his L1 vertebra, an injury that will likely keep him out of the car for five races.
Of course, it’s not as simple as a final lap “racin’ deal.” The week prior at Bristol, Hamlin had spun Logano as the two
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