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26th
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On Monday evening Denny Hamlin was released from Loma Linda University Medical Center after suffering a compression fracture of his lower back in a last-lap crash involving former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.
The injured driver will be flying to his home in Charlotte, NC where he'll be further evaluated by Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates to determine whether surgery is required. Dr. Petty is well known to the racing community.
Logano and Hamlin were having a fierce, side-by-side, battle for the win when they made contact and Hamlin's car was sent, nose first, into an inside wall which was not protected by a SAFER barrier.
Hamlin, said to reporters at the hospital, that it was too soon to tell when he will be able to return to racing. NASCAR has the next weekend off due to the Easter holiday. Also complicating his situation is recurrent back injuries prior to Sunday's incident.
Some drivers have missed up to six months of racing while recuperating from an injury of this type. Until Dr. Petty and his associates review Hamlin's medical records and current tests the date he can return to driving for Joe Gibbs Racing is up in the air.
After the race, but before learning of Hamlin's injury Logano said that Hamlin had hard racing coming to him as a result of bumping incidents at last week's race at Bristol. On learning of Hamlin's hospitalization Logano changed his rhetoric.
Logano told USA Today on Monday, in telephone interview,"I just thought we were racing hard, you know? It happens. You don't ever want anyone to get hurt; you don't ever want anything to happen, especially to Denny. We were racing really hard there at the end of the race. I wish there was a SAFER barrier down there, and I wish I knew before I made any comments on TV also."
In a related development, Logano's boss, Roger Penske, supported Logano's driving in Sunday's Auto Club 400.
The injured driver will be flying to his home in Charlotte, NC where he'll be further evaluated by Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates to determine whether surgery is required. Dr. Petty is well known to the racing community.
Logano and Hamlin were having a fierce, side-by-side, battle for the win when they made contact and Hamlin's car was sent, nose first, into an inside wall which was not protected by a SAFER barrier.
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| Caption: NASCAR.com |
Hamlin, said to reporters at the hospital, that it was too soon to tell when he will be able to return to racing. NASCAR has the next weekend off due to the Easter holiday. Also complicating his situation is recurrent back injuries prior to Sunday's incident.
Some drivers have missed up to six months of racing while recuperating from an injury of this type. Until Dr. Petty and his associates review Hamlin's medical records and current tests the date he can return to driving for Joe Gibbs Racing is up in the air.
After the race, but before learning of Hamlin's injury Logano said that Hamlin had hard racing coming to him as a result of bumping incidents at last week's race at Bristol. On learning of Hamlin's hospitalization Logano changed his rhetoric.
Logano told USA Today on Monday, in telephone interview,"I just thought we were racing hard, you know? It happens. You don't ever want anyone to get hurt; you don't ever want anything to happen, especially to Denny. We were racing really hard there at the end of the race. I wish there was a SAFER barrier down there, and I wish I knew before I made any comments on TV also."
In a related development, Logano's boss, Roger Penske, supported Logano's driving in Sunday's Auto Club 400.
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| Denny Hamlin at the hospital. (Photo: Twitter) |