Richard Petty weighs in on whether NASCAR should have penalized Denny Hamlin for late restart

There was minor controversy over Denny Hamlin‘s win this Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 when an otherwise straightforward race was suddenly thrown into chaos by a caution in the final two laps.

The caution came as a result of Bubba Wallace getting into the back bumper of Kyle Larson, causing Larson to spin out with just two laps remaining. The caution flag came out and the race went to overtime.

After pitting quickly, Denny Hamlin took the lead position on the restart. That’s where the controversy kicks in.

Hamlin appeared to hit the gas a little before he entered the official restart zone, marked by a white line on the track. Cameras seemed to confirm the slightly early start, but NASCAR did not hit Hamlin with any penalties for the restart.

Hamlin would go on to win the race comfortably, but he wasn’t able to escape the controversy.

“I think he started a little early, from that standpoint,” said Richard Petty, a seven-time Cup Series champion. “But when you get down and you’ve done run a race that long, it’s hard to make a judgment call. If that would have been the first of the race, they could have probably made a judgment call. But under those circumstances they were just trying to get the race over with.”

Such restarts are not terribly uncommon in NASCAR, and they’re usually treated with a little leeway since it’s a particularly hard thing to police. The margins are ultra-thin and typically don’t serve to influence the race very much.

This one came under scrutiny partially because of how short the race was after the restart.

Petty’s cohost on the "Petty Race Recap," Dale Inman, also had no issues with NASCAR’s decision on the Denny Hamlin restart.

“I really didn’t see nothing wrong with the restart because he is No. 1, and I mean you couldn’t see the restart zone or none of that,” Inman said. “He certainly got the green flag and the checkered, no question about that. And it’s in the history book now, so we’ll just have to leave it at that.”

For his part, Hamlin is tired of hearing about the restart at this point. Forty-eight hours later, that still seemed to be all anyone was talking about.

Denny Hamlin lashed out on X, telling fans to move on.

“I sure wish someone would come out with a new paint scheme or something,” Hamlin wrote. “Ain’t y’all tired of talking about the same thing for 48 hours now? Our team won the race because of the pit crew. Not the restart. Y’all just sour.

“GET OVER IT!”