Denny Hamlin was cleared to race Saturday night despite an overnight stay in an Alabama hospital following his hard wreck at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I couldn’t stand sitting this race out, and I think there’s a lot of people that question that, but I think if I had any question in my mind about it, I wouldn’t do it because really I have nothing to lose,” Hamlin said Thursday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Hamlin had a headache and sore ankle when his tire failed while leading Sunday at Talladega. His car shot up the track and into the outside wall in a hard hit that left him breathless. The tire was destroyed, so his Joe Gibbs Racing team and Goodyear have been unable to determine what cause the failure.
Hamlin knew he was going to wreck, but said he had almost no time to prepare himself.
“I had about one second, because I did cross all three lanes,” he said. “That was the worst thing because I wasn’t on the high groove where I was up against the wall already. I came from the low to the high. That was probably the one time that I wish I wasn’t leading the race.”
He was able to watch the final laps of the race from his Birmingham hospital room and was released Monday morning. He returned to North Carolina and was re-examined by Dr. Jerry Petty, a neurosurgeon who treats many NASCAR drivers.
“You move around too much and you’re sore,” Hamlin said. “I had a headache and what not. It seems like every day it’s just gotten a little bit better. I’ve become a little bit more active each day as well. I went out and played tennis yesterday.
“Just to do things to get my heart rate up and make sure I don’t have any headaches or anything, but now everything seems to get good.”
Hamlin was scheduled to run Friday night’s Nationwide Series race for Braun Racing, but bowed out because of his accident.
“We just felt like it would be a good idea if he pulled back a bit,” said Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs. “He’s feeling better, doing fine, but he needs to take it easy if he can.”
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