Hamlin suffers serious setback at the start of Coca-Cola 600

CONCORD, N.C. — Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin had his shot at winning another crown jewel event Sunday night destroyed before the Coca-Cola 600 even began.

A piece of tungsten flew off of Hamlin’s car during the pace laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Hamlin had to return to pit road to have the weight put back into his Toyota.

Hamlin was eight laps down when he was finally able to join the race. The penalty for tungsten coming off a car is a four-race suspension for the crew chief, according to NASCAR’s rule book.

Hamlin, winner Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway, was clearly growing frustrated as his Joe Gibbs Racing team worked to reapply tungsten.

“Let me know when it’s the point of ‘no return’ and we can just go home,” Hamlin said.

“Nope,” replied crew chief Chris Gabehart. “We can’t do that.”

The tungsten in question weighs 35 pounds and costs $1,877 from the supplier. If it comes off a car during competition, it can cause serious damage if another vehicle hits it. The ballast is added to meet NASCAR’s minimum-weight requirement and if it becomes separated from the car it is an automatic four-race suspension for the crew chief.

NASCAR got the race started and ticked off 49 laps before rain brought out the caution. The cars were brought to pit road and covered one lap later when rain picked up and the race was red-flagged. It resumed after a rain delay of nearly 80 minutes.

Kurt Busch started from the pole and was still leading when the rain began at the only event on the biggest single day of auto racing.

The Sunday before Memorial Day is a supposed to be a smorgasbord of motorsports that begins with Formula One at the Monaco Grand Prix, then IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500, followed by NASCAR and its longest race on the calendar.

The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out the first part of F1’s schedule and, like IndyCar, it is still waiting to start its season. Roger Penske, the new owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has moved the Indy 500. It marks the first time since 1946 the 500 is not being run on Memorial Day weekend.