BRISTOL, Tenn. — Add Denny Hamlin to the list of drivers who have thrown things during a NASCAR race.
Hamlin hurled his HANS (head and neck support device) up the track toward rival Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Chevrolet after Harvick spun him.
Hamlin was leading the race Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway when the incident occurred on lap 161.
Hamlin got the lead through pit strategy, but Harvick had been hounding him for several laps. As Hamlin drove into Turn 1, Harvick lost control of his car and slid up into Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota, sending him spinning.
After Hamlin bounced off the inside wall, he was hit by Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose No. 88 car lost one of its sides and all its safety foam.
Hamlin waited on the safety crew before getting out of the car, following the new protocol set last week by NASCAR.
But after gathering items from inside his car, he heaved the HANS device up the track toward Harvick's car as it came back by under caution as safety workers stood by. Hamlin remained on the apron when he made the toss.
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said after the race that it's unlikely Hamlin will be penalized for throwing the device.
VIDEO: See the crash between Hamlin and Harvick
Last Friday, NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton announced the sanctioning body was adding a rule to keep drivers in their cars after accidents and when races were under caution until safety crews arrive. Drivers cannot walk onto the track or toward another car.
The rule came in the wake of a sprint car accident in upstate New York on Aug. 9 in which driver Kevin Ward Jr. was struck and killed by Tony Stewart's car when Ward exited his car and walked down onto the racing surface.
Harvick, who started from the pole but finished 11th after a pit-road speeding penalty, took blame for Saturday's wreck on his team radio.
"We got a speeding penalty there at the end," Harvick said after the race. "I knew I was close, but I tried to get everything I could on pit road and wound up biting us. … Raced hard all night – just made a mistake there on pit road speeding."
Harvick also tweeted after the race: "Apologize to my team for the speeding penalty to ruin our night & to @dennyhamlin for ruining his."
Hamlin had calmed down a bit after visiting the infield medical center for a mandatory checkup.
"I was so mad," he said. "Trying to think when I've been that mad in the past, but it's been maybe never. It's just the circumstances. I'm okay with wrecking on the white-flag lap but not lap 100 and something.
"He (Harvick) thinks he knows everything and probably thought he knows everything again. I wish I had some kind of car left to show him the favor back. I mean we're not even halfway. We're racing for the lead. It's just a misjudgment. He knows better. He made a mistake."
Hamlin said the early part of the race convinced him he had a potentially winning car.
"It just didn't work out," he said. "Mistakes happen in racing. I believe Kevin made a mistake tonight. That's part of it. I was just on the short end of the stick.
"He's not just going to take somebody out early in the race [on purpose]. I've got no problems with Kevin. He was trying too hard too early. These short tracks are about patience. You have to show patience."
In last year's Bristol night race, Harvick parked in Hamlin's pit stall after a crash and Hamlin shoved the No. 29 car out. The two then had a discussion about what happened.
Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluckand Hembree @mikehembree
PHOTOS: Denny Hamlin through the years
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2014/08/23/denny-hamlin-throws-hans-device-at-kevin-harvick-dale-earnhardt-jr-bristol-wreck/14512359/
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