Fans rip NASCAR after Denny Hamlin Martinsville incident

NASCAR fans were not pleased with the sport after it was reported that Denny Hamlin doesn’t face any potential fines for his post-race actions.

After StarCom Racing’s Quin Houff retaliated against Rick Ware Racing’s Josh Bilicki during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series round of 8 playoff race at Martinsville Speedway, using his #00 Chevrolet to spin out Bilicki’s #52 Chevrolet near a safety truck under caution, NASCAR parked Houff for five laps.

Little did they know that their handling of this situation would lead to yet another scenario of blatant inconsistency in terms of officiating, one that still has fans riled up.

Battling for the lead late in the race, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman made contact with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, sending him into the wall in turns three and four of the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia.

Bowman took the lead and went on to survive an overtime restart and win the race while Hamlin had to settle for 24th place. But he still advanced to the Championship 4.

However, Hamlin was still fuming at Bowman for the way in which he earned his fourth win of the year, even though the contact was truly an honest mistake on Bowman’s part.

As a result, he used his #11 Toyota to retaliate during the #48 Chevrolet’s victory celebration on the front straightaway, making contact to drive home his point.

A profanity-laced post-race televised interview with Hamlin, in which he called Bowman a “hack” and said he “gets his ass kicked by his teammates every week” and is “f—ing terrible”, took place afterward, but it was the on-track antics that raised the eyebrows of many.

Bowman’s hands were clearly off the wheel and his window net was indeed down, yet Hamlin had no way of knowing if his seatbelt/helmet were off by the time he approached. That didn’t stop him from making contact with the car.

Bowman went on to do his burnouts and then celebrate in victory lane, just as he is entitled to as the race winner.

However, Hamlin doesn’t face any potential consequences for how he handled himself on the race track, according to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, even though it could have and should have been viewed as a matter of driver safety.

This has led many fans to blast NASCAR for their inconsistency.

Houff was parked for five laps for what he did and what could have happened as a result of where he did it, but Hamlin faces no consequences for what could be considered far more dangerous maneuver.

Among the hundreds of social media comments in response to posts about the Houff/Bilicki incident and the Hamlin/Bowman incident were the following.

“Be consistent NASCAR!!! Denny deserves a major penalty!!!”

“Penalize Hamlin for his after the race antics!”

“Denny Hamlin should have all points taken away and parked for the final race for what he did.”

“then denny needs to be penalized”

“Now what about Hamlin for his nasty actions and words after the race”

Those were some of the nicer ones; you get the idea if you’ve ever visited a social media platform before.

Hamlin was unapologetic over how he handled himself afterward and shared the following message on Twitter.

Nobody is questioning Hamlin’s right to feel frustrated after being taken out, but how he went about showing it is where many have a serious issue — and where you would think NASCAR would have a serious issue, given not only what had just happened on the track earlier in the race but the priority that is supposedly placed on driver safety as well.

But they evidently like what they’re seeing.