Denny Hamlin crashes in fast Martinsville practice
RIDGEWAY, Va. — Denny Hamlin’s team will make repairs to his car after he crashed in practice for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Through 23 minutes of practice, Hamlin ran the fastest time of any driver (19.957 seconds). He showed pace on the long run but all it took was one bad corner to turn his weekend upside down.
Going into turn three, Hamlin locked up the front tires and then slid sideways, backing into the outside wall.
“Throttle stuck. F-ck. The throttle stuck!” Hamlin said over the radio.
In-car audio showed him pushing the clutch and do whatever he could to avoid a heavy head-on impact. It worked but it couldn’t prevent his car from being destroyed.
In the garage area, Hamlin slammed his helmet on the roof of his car as he exited.
His team will make repairs to the car. It comes at a bad time as they are 18 points below the cutline with only Martinsville left to make the Championship 4.
“Chris [Gabehart, crew chief] sent me a picture of a huge chunk of rubber wedged in the throttle body that stuck it wide open,” Hamlin said to NBC.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com