On lap 384 of the 500-lap affair, Hamlin was running 20th and had just hit pit road a few laps earlier. To his detriment, Hamlin’s race unravelled when his right front tire got loose and derailed his entry into Turn 3, causing a contact with polesitter AJ Allmendinger.

Both cars ended up on the outside walls, while the loose wheel rolled off on its own. NASCAR promptly levied a penalty on Hamlin and held him back for two laps. The #11 team also stands to lose two pit crew members for the loose wheel.

On the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin detailed the incident and said:

“All I know is I went into turn three, I felt something kind of weird off of turn two. I turned the wheel and the thing was hanging and I was like, ‘what the hell like, am I having another major tight moment. Did I cord a tire already?’ Yeah, I just went and turned three. The car went straight, wiped out AJ. Then I was riding on three tires.”

Denny Hamlin ended with a 31st-place finish while Allmendinger retired from the race after 408 laps, marking him 36th on the finishing order. Notably, the Kaulig Racing driver had the fastest lap of the race at 15.5 seconds.

Denny Hamlin reveals the moment he knew the race was going to get chaotic

Denny Hamlin had tough luck at Bristol Motor Speedway. He faced multiple incidents throughout the 500-lap event and was involved in a controversial chain reaction that took out Chase Elliott. John Hunter Nemechek, who was also caught up in the incident, blamed Hamlin for running him over. In addition, Hamlin ran into the walls on several occasions as well.