As the caution flag waved for the Juan Pablo Montoya wreck involving Kasey Kahne the top 10 drivers were faced with a dilemma, to pit or not to pit?
Track position is the second most used word on any race weekend. It’s coveted when you have it you don’t give it up and when you don’t have it you are willing to do anything for it.
So that’s why when fifth place running Denny Hamlin came down for four tires had many fans wondering, huh?
The top eight didn’t pit and with everyone basically behind them pitting Hamlin was now in a box. Then to cap it off a slow stop after a dropped lug nut while just taking just two tires didn’t help their cause.
Now that much needed track position was gone and with the laps winding down so was Hamlin’s time.
He would restart 19th and suddenly the most dominant car in the first half of the race was a non factor.
When I say dominant, I don’t mean he led a handful of laps and paced the field. I mean he led 65 laps early on in the race but the changing track conditions changed his car as the day wore on.
He wasn’t the same after he gave up the lead to Kyle Busch for the bonus points and the loose condition they battled never really got better.
Still they were running fifth and with nobody around them pitting and even some other guys behind them choosing to stay out Ford’s call was questionable.
While some drivers didn’t have a hard time in traffic on Sunday others did. Once the field spread out it was even harder to pass.
On the final restart he was 19th and he only gained four spots to 15th.
This was a critical call during a very important race for Hamlin. Arguably in the upcoming tracks this was one of his best opportunities to win the race.
With his one win he is sitting 11th in the standings but he lost ground to the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart who are ninth and 10th respectively.
Both of those drivers finished ahead of Hamlin and unless Hamlin can score another win he is on the Chase bubble.
If David Ragan or Paul Menard can score another win; if Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle or Mark Martin can get on a roll, Hamlin could be on the outside looking in.
That’s why the decision to pit even only for two tires that late in the game made little sense. Even if he dropped back to sixth or seventh he would have finished ahead of Earnhardt and Stewart.
It was these moments last season that we saw this team thrive at. Now as the races wind down for the Chase their fate is far from decided.
The disgust and frustration for Ford, Hamlin and his team following the race was clear another opportunity slipped away in a season full of missed opportunities.
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