Denny Hamlin’s afternoon at Kansas Speedway on Sunday proved trickier than it may have appeared on the outside, with the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver and NASCAR Cup Series title hopeful left battling power steering issues for much of the Hollywood Casino 400.
Looking to secure his 60th career win and, in so doing, his spot in the Playoffs Round of 8, the 44-year-old qualified second behind Ross Chastain, going on to lead 159 laps before a collision between him and Bubba Wallace on the last lap of double overtime allowed Chase Elliott to pass them both to take the checkered flag.
But throughout much of the race, Hamlin was essentially held back by his car, admitting on his ‘Action’s Detrimental’ podcast that driving without power steering “sucks.”
“I noticed it very early in the race as I was swerving to try to get my tires cleaned up,” he said. “It would it would click click like the wheels supposed to be the same left or right and every time I go to the right it would it would go click click like it would get stuck unstuck stuck unstuck and I it got to where I was like looking at the coupler because I thought it was cracked like it was making that kind of noise right around where the steering wheel was and I’m like, ‘Is something getting stuck in the wheel?’
“So they had me cycle the engine I think before the last run…And so, they asked me to do that. I turned everything off, which I’m super paranoid…Oh my gosh, I was so paranoid. I’m going through three and four. I get a run on the pace car to give myself time to get everything reset. And it’s not like cutting off your on-off switch. You’re cutting off the battery, everything.”
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Thankfully for Hamlin, he was able to get the car booted up once again, believing at first that the situation had improved. However, it didn’t take him long to realize that he could “only turn this thing a certain amount before it sticks.”
“So I had a window in which I could operate,” he added. “And if you look at kind of my steering, which you can’t do, I’m more talking about inside baseball here, but if you look at the entire long run, where it was that 40 or 50 lap run at the end, I had to go really, really slow and really, really small on my input.
“So, I would just enter the corner and go, and then hope I didn’t get it in one of those sticking spots. So, the whole time I am death-gripped to the steering wheel because if it sticks, I got to unstick it.”
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Hamlin recalled a few moments where he had to manhandle the steering back after sticking, noting how, “Holding that wheel, preparing for it to dart one way or another or get stuck one direction or another, that’s what wore me out.”
Despite his tiredness, Hamlin very nearly took the checkered flag, having to ultimately settle for second. This achievement has, however, been overshadowed by his controversial contact with Wallace, who drives for the team Hamlin co-owns, 23XI Racing.
Not only did Wallace drop to fifth, but it leaves him below the cutoff line heading to the Roval on Sunday. Regardless, Hamlin later stood by his actions on his podcast, explaining that as far as he is concerned, when he’s behind the wheel of the No. 11, his allegiance is purely with JGR.