Breaking It Down: Revisiting Hamlin vs. Byron and the resulting fallout
Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will, for better or worse, go down in the history books. The race had a little bit of everything, including a track record-setting 16 cautions, 36 lead changes, another week of major shake-ups in points, and drama between playoff rivals.
After the race, storylines ran rampant as fans tried to digest everything that had gone down, but one topic that caught everyone’s attention was the run-in with William Byron and Denny Hamlin.
The tension started on lap 262 when the drivers were in a battle for second place. Hamlin inadvertently squeezed Byron coming off of Turn 2, causing both drivers to lose a position. To the naked eye, it was hard to tell if Byron even hit the wall, but nonetheless, he continued on with no loss of speed or visible damage.
Damaged or not, it was a close call at the very least. Byron immediately expressed his displeasure by running Hamlin low down the backstretch. While his antics got fans out of their seats, it appeared as though the drivers had efficiently self-policed their issues with each other.
Or so it seemed.
Just six laps later, the caution came out for Hamlin’s teammate, Martin Truex Jr., who had lost a tire and spun coming off of Turn 4. As expected, the entire field slowed down to caution speed.
Everyone except for Byron, that is.
Instead, the Hendrick Motorsports driver chased Hamlin down and mercilessly punted his Joe Gibbs Racing rival off his nose, sending him spinning through the infield grass.
Hamlin, clearly livid by the situation, passed the field under caution to try and reassume his position. Instead, a game of cat and mouse ensued between him and Byron, where Byron nervously pulled ahead in fear of Hamlin retaliating, while an angry Hamlin rode his bumper, right within striking distance the entire time.
Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed and Hamlin declined to truly retaliate under caution. However, he continued to ride around in protest at the fact that Byron was not penalized, nor was he (Hamlin) awarded his spot back, either.
Although Hamlin's protest reached no avail during the race, he did pose an important question:
What is stopping someone from spinning a fellow championship contender out under caution during the championship race?
Well, NASCAR answered that question Tuesday with a big statement. Byron was docked 25 driver and owner points to go along with a hefty $50,000 fine. With such a hefty punishment, NASCAR made it clear that there is no place for Byron’s behavior.
When Byron received no penalty during the race, it seemed as though a dangerous precedent may have been set. Instead, an intimidating precedent has been set with Tuesday’s decision. Drivers now know that a cheap shot like Byron’s could have season-altering implications to the point standings, which is something no driver can afford this late in the season.
In terms of character, the move was a bad look for Byron. As much as retaliation is considered common practice in NASCAR, payback under caution is off-limits. It is a plain and simple violation of everyone’s safety, not to mention it’s the ultimate cheap shot, considering that everyone is abiding by pace car speed.
To make matters worse, Byron looks like a complete hypocrite for the move as well. At Darlington in the spring, Byron similarly squeezed Joey Logano into the wall on a restart. Logano retaliated by punting Byron for the win, which sent Byron into the wall and left him to limp to a 13th-place finish.
After the race, Byron had some choice words for Logano and even expressed that he did not deserve payback for racing Logano hard on the restart. It was one of the angriest moments of Byron’s career and he certainly milked it for all the sympathy he could get.
Yet, when the tables were turned, Byron reacted even worse than Logano for an even lighter squeeze. At only 24 years old, Byron clearly has some growing up to do. Lessons like this come with racing at the highest level, but these two instances put Byron’s youth on full display. To his credit, he is known as a clean driver by most of his peers, so recovering from this will rely mainly on his composure off of the track.
That said, Hamlin vowed to pay Byron back. If there’s one driver that’s made good on his promises of revenge it's Hamlin. After getting sent in the wall by Ross Chastain at Gateway this year, Hamlin said he would get the last laugh. Week after week, cameras would turn to the two drivers any time they got in close proximity, but Hamlin waited until what he felt was the perfect time.
Which in this case was Pocono, where he squeezed Chastain coming out of Turn 1, which sent Chastain from second place to out of the race in the blink of an eye.
Penalty or not, the ball is in Hamlin’s court as to whether or not he will punish Byron any further for his actions. If he does, things could get pretty ugly for Byron.
Already eight points below the cutline due to the penalty -- instead of being third had he not been penalized -- Byron cannot afford another bad run in the round of 12 if he hopes to advance. If Hamlin elects to get payback in the next two races, Byron’s championship hopes are effectively over.
And what happens if Byron bounces back and reaches the Championship 4 round, while Hamlin gets eliminated after the current Round of 12 or the upcoming semifinal Round of 8? Would Hamlin still seek payback on Byron in the championship race, preventing his rival from a legitimate shot at his first championship?
It really makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Just when these playoffs could not get any more unpredictable, a good old-fashioned rivalry has come to stir the pot even more. With Talladega this weekend, things are set to get crazy in the round of 12, and there’s certainly going to be plenty of eyes on the No. 11 car to see how he responds.