Denny Hamlin Calls Out NASCAR After Tyler Reddick’s Horrifying Flip

In the latest NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a serious incident involving driver Tyler Reddick has triggered yet more criticism regarding the safety of tracks used in the series.

The incident saw Reddick’s car flipping dramatically after spinning onto an uneven stretch of grass on the track’s frontstretch. Despite landing upright and managing to bring his wounded machinery back to the pits, Reddick’s race ended prematurely with a disappointing 35th-place finish.

In response, fellow NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin has called out the governing body for what he sees as unsafe and inconsistent track conditions, particularly highlighting the impact of grass being so close to the track.

Reddick, behind the wheel of the No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE, saw his crash come on the 90th lap of the race alongside Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. This wreck unfolded during the fierce second stage of the race. The 1.5-mile tri-oval venue, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, occupies a crucial position in the playoff calendar, so drivers were aggressive in their racing that weekend.

Hamlin, on his podcast “Actions Detrimental”, voiced serious concerns about the lack of standardization across NASCAR tracks.

“It’s unfortunate, and certainly we don’t have really any kind of standard of consistency when it comes to the grass and the infield and what we have on mile and a halves,” he said.

“I just wish we had something more consistency or some sort of here’s the standard in which we want the infields. I certainly think the grass was low.

“We have some tracks where it’s definitely higher. Michigan was one where you go through the grass there, you’re going to just destroy and it definitely can grab the car. Charlette’s the best by far.

“They’ve got AstroTurf there. It’s the smoothest, you can run through it, it’s the easiest to maintain but it’s the most expensive to initially put in there. Certainly, the grass was a destroyer of cars and certainly caused this one to flip.

“If we’re so hellbent on these cars not flipping, because we think that’s a problem, what are they going to do about Las Vegas? If the other issues were a car problem, this is a track problem. So are we going to fix the track problem?”

Tyler Reddick reflected on the incident himself following the race.

“You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while.” Reflecting on the crash, Reddick admitted to a misjudgment: “By the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding and the 9 (Elliott) was coming up, and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go…

“I needed to make the decision earlier… but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race.

“We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead – a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there.”

Reddick remains optimistic, looking forward to the upcoming event at Homestead-Miami Speedway where he anticipates a strong return.

The crash didn’t only affect Reddick. Chase Elliott saw his No. 9 Chevrolet sustain serious damage, compromising his race due to the necessary combination of repairs. Ryan Blaney also got caught up in the incident.