Denny Hamlin‘s pursuit of his first victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway suffered a dramatic setback during qualifying for the 2025 Brickyard 400, when a high-speed crash dashed his chances. Hamlin, known for his skill and speed, was poised for pole position after posting the fastest times in practice, but his Indianapolis qualifying crash forced him to start 39th, placing his Brickyard 400 hopes in serious jeopardy.
During a candid episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin examined the mental mistake that led to the crash and how it cost him what he believed was his best shot at Indy success. The 44-year-old driver was outpacing teammate Chase Briscoe by over two-tenths of a second when his No. 11 Toyota hit the outside wall in Turn 2, then spun into the grass and collided with the SAFER Barrier. The incident forced Joe Gibbs Racing to deploy a backup car, relegating Hamlin to the back of the field in the starting lineup.
A Close Look at the Split-Second Error in Turn 2
Hamlin took full accountability for the crash, describing the intense pressure and split-second recalculations he faced on qualifying day. “Saturday is like 100% me,” Hamlin admitted.
I can’t think of any percentage… I knew one and two, I killed it. I knew I killed that. So at that point, do I need to go continue to go balls out here every single corner? No, like, I need a couple good solid corners.
He explained that the crash was a result of him feeling exceptional grip and a surge in speed—about five miles per hour faster than planned—through Turn 1. Instead of easing up, he carried this aggressive edge into Turn 2, where his approach backfired at the worst moment, causing him to lose control.
Hamlin detailed his maneuver on the podcast, saying,
I tried to go into Turn 2, and I felt the grip on corner entry felt fine, but I just got back to it,
and added,
Anyone that have seen kind of my traces and how I drive and how I use the throttle, I gave it one of those big stabs right in the middle of the corner of two and it got me off offline.
This throttle application, typical of his style, led the car off line and into the wall.
The Frustration of Ignoring Clear Warning Signs
What deepened Hamlin’s frustration was his awareness of other drivers struggling with the same section of the track during qualifying. Several competitors lost control in Turn 2, signaling that the grip conditions had shifted, yet Hamlin admitted he failed to adjust accordingly.
What’s painful about it is I watched other guys do the same thing, right?
he reflected.
I had 38 other cars to watch and see that one out of every four had issues off of turn two. So clearly, there was a change in the track there and conditions that made that happen. And so I just wasn’t I wasn’t aware, I was just hyped up.
This oversight turned a promising qualifying run into a costly mistake.
The accident dramatically transformed Hamlin’s path to his elusive Brickyard 400 victory. Beginning from the rear of the grid in a backup car affectionately dubbed a “trailer rat,” he estimated that his chances of winning dropped to “1% or less.” Despite his setback, Hamlin battled hard to finish third, while his co-owned 23XI Racing secured the win through Bubba Wallace, leaving Hamlin’s missed qualifying opportunity to loom large as the defining moment of his Indy campaign.
