The closing stages at Texas Motor Speedway gave us fans everything we wanted. A late caution compressed the field and set up a final restart with Denny Hamlin alongside Chase Elliott on the front row, both carrying race-winning speed across the longer runs. But it was destined to be Elliott's day, and Hamlin opened up on what didn't work for him on that final restart.

“I got the first part of the restart really well,” Hamlin said, before pointing to the shift, adding, “He got that push… right entering turn 1. Just enough to slow my momentum and pick his up.”

Both got a strong launch on that restart, but Elliott's teammate Alex Bowman pushed him to make Elliott pass Hamlin off Turn 1.

“I could’ve risked it… and crashed both of us. If I hung onto his quarter panel anymore… I was going to end up hitting the fence,” he added.

So the move we were all waiting for, that was expected of the No. 11 Toyota, never really came, which was perfectly encapsulated in Hamlin’s own words, “These mile-and-a-halves have been really, really good for us… I wish we’d get the wins with as fast as we are.”

The result? Elliott cleared ahead and controlled the final laps, and drove away to secure the victory, leaving Hamlin to settle for second after coming within a single moment of winning.

In a separate interview, Hamlin mentioned Turn 1's nature as well, saying, "But then, you know, just the way the side-draft works there into Turn 1." So why is Turn 1 at Texas so important? Why is it so significant that it can alter racing outcomes?

Texas and the art of momentum: Why Turn 1 decides everything

At Texas Motor Speedway, Turn 1 is the turner. Cars come in super fast, around 190 mph, and suddenly have to turn, slow down, and stay balanced. Add to this the fact that the track here tends to be a bit flatter, and there’s a special sticky substance (PJ1) that makes only certain parts of the track grippy. So drivers have to hit the exact right path, or the car will slide.

In situations of restarts, the question of air arises. Let’s say a car has clean air in front, such a car would turn easily. But if it’s behind another car, the messy air makes the front tires lose grip, so the car doesn’t turn well. Add to this the fact that if the driver gets a push from behind, he can leverage additional speed, which is what happened with Elliott. Without this push, the car feels slower and harder to control.

Finally, the tires here are also working really hard, especially the front-right one, which is carrying most of the load. The back tires are also trying really hard to prevent the car from spinning. Here, even small steering mistakes or bumps can upset the car’s balance. Because there’s no time to fix mistakes after Turn 1, whoever gets it right there usually controls the race. 

This is exactly what occurred with Denny Hamlin; even though he did everything right at the start, he did not get the push he needed, and all the dirty air into Turn 1 took away the control he was enjoying. In that very moment, the race slipped away from him, turning what would have been a perfect start into a regrettable loss.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason