Denny Hamlin breaks down penalty for jumping start at Nashville in NASCAR Cup Series race

Denny Hamlin overcame a monumental hiccup to win the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville late Sunday night. He was penalized for jumping the start early and had to head to the back of the field.

Somehow, Hamlin managed to claw his way back through the field to earn the win. But it was far from guaranteed.

On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin explained how he got himself into trouble at the start. He was having a conversation before the race about the start and leading from the pole, and he seemed to think they could gain a slight edge.

“You actually can leave slightly before, what visually looks like you taking off, there’s a delay,” Hamlin explained. “So when you hit the gas, there’s a delay from when the TV shows you actually taking off. It’s a little bit.

“And I was like, so usually you can leave slightly before the line and it will look on TV when they’re reviewing like it’s at the line.”

Of course, as things played out, Denny Hamlin took off well ahead of the rest of the field. His jump was so good that many viewers assumed it had to be a penalty. But the ruling took a minute. It didn’t come down until nearly the end of the first lap.

“I actually had no idea that I had to wait to the line,” Hamlin explained, perhaps cheekily. “I thought I could just go whenever I wanted to. So I was just trying to mix it up a little bit. And I was really, really surprised to see in my camera nobody within sight entering Turn 1. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that, ‘Oh my gosh, was everyone just sleeping? I really got ’em.’ There was a part of me coming off Turn 2, I was like, ‘Oh man, I hope they don’t say anything.’ I know people have been penalized for this before, but like I don’t know what the parameters are. But it’s written in the rulebook that you’ve got to wait till at least the restart zone.”

Of course, Denny Hamlin and his crew also had some friendly bets on with the 45 car of Tyler Reddick, who was next to Hamlin on the front row for the start of the race. Much to his chagrin, Reddick took the lead.

“Man, I bet the 45 bunch was loving that, knowing that you’re going from first to last and they just inherited the lead,” Hamlin said.

But the veteran driver seemed to know he could work his way back up the field when he needed to. He’s had great long-run speed all year and he has worked hard on his restarts.

So when he got to the back of the field, Hamlin didn’t make a ton of progress initially. That was partly by design, he explained. He was not in danger of being lapped, he said.

“No way. You know I was just coasting around in fifth gear, right?” Hamlin said. “I was just trying to give the team options. I’m not going to wear my tires out in case you want to… if you want to stay out, let’s stay out and get the lead back. It ain’t like I’m about to fall in dead last where I’m at.

“So I just wanted to give them some options, but we took four tires anyway, didn’t… restarted about 34th, 35. I just was pacing myself off the 45 and going to run a decent enough pace to not go a lap down. They were keeping me updated of the gap, but I wasn’t trying to go because I knew there was nowhere to go, nothing to gain, other than trying not to get lapped.”