Denny Hamlin wants NASCAR to take accountability for not throwing a caution flag after Cody Ware’s violent crash in the late laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen.
With nine laps remaining in the Go Bowling at The Glen, Ware’s No. 51 car pounded an Armco barrier entering turn seven. While the impact was vicious, the Rick Ware Racing driver managed to get back to pit road and pull his car into the garage.
The incident was not captured in Sunday’s FS1 broadcast. However, after Ware’s on-board camera footage of the crash surfaced on social media, many within the sport questioned why NASCAR did not call a caution.
Hamlin on NASCAR’s part in Ware crash: ‘Take some accountability’
On a recent episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Hamlin urged NASCAR to improve in noticing things that are happening on the racetrack. The driver of the No. 11 was baffled that Ware’s crash was overlooked.
“NASCAR has to get better with that. I’ve seen their control center at their production studio. There’s absolutely no excuse. You have cameras pointing in every direction of this racetrack. For you to not see Cody Ware destroyed in that final corner. Holy cow, man,” Hamlin said.
The 45-year-old went on to say he is hopeful that NASCAR addresses the matter and not overlook the severity of what happened.
“They need to say something about that. Not just, ‘Oh, we’ll look at it. We’re always looking to improve.’ That’s old news. Take some accountability on this one. This is not acceptable,” Hamlin said.
Although FS1 did not catch a replay of the incident, Hamlin made it clear that NASCAR still should have picked it up. With a number of monitors to watch and cameras all around the track, Hamlin believes there is no excuse for someone not seeing Ware’s wreck.
“NASCAR has these monitors and they have cameras pointing pretty much at every — it should be — every corner. I’ve seen it on ovals. They got every corner at every angle because they just don’t have the track workers they used to have. … It’s a lot of monitors looking at the racetrack from all these different things to see things that necessarily are not being shown on TV. … There has to be multiple people looking for dramatic events that’s going on that could be a hazard,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin’s advice to Ware: ‘Get this thing to the finish’
Unfortunately for Ware, it has been a recurring theme for him to have violent crashes in road course races.
Last year in the Chicago street race, Ware took a violent hit into a tire barrier. However, NASCAR did not throw a caution until 30 seconds after impact. It was the hardest frontal hit ever recorded in the NextGen era.
While Hamlin did not blame Ware for Sunday’s incident at Watkins Glen, his advice to the driver of the No. 51 moving forward would be to get to the finish in one piece.
“If I could give Cody Ware one piece of advice is inside of 10 to go, find a way to get this thing to the finish. I’m not saying this is his fault at all, but it’s a theme that it’s like find a way to get this thing home in a careful manner,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin finished 16th in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. He is second in Cup Series points with one win after 12 races.
Denny Hamlin Calls For NASCAR Accountability After Cody Ware Incident