Video: Denny Hamlin Done for Day After Blown Engine on Lap 3 at Sonoma

A BLOWN ENGINE FOR DENNY HAMLIN. His day is over. ? #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/dUISeNR3jG

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 9, 2024

Poof. Just like that, Denny Hamlin’s day is done in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry was battling around the 29th position, when his engine let loose as he crossed the start finish line to begin the third lap of the 110-lap event. Hamlin will be credited with a last-place finish due to the motor failure.

Here is another replay of the engine failure for Hamlin:

Here was what it looked like as Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota blew up as he crossed the line to start Lap 3: pic.twitter.com/ifWIGucayO

— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 9, 2024

Hamlin said that he had no warning that the engine was about to explode as he was heading down the straightaway on Lap 2.

“No, no, nothing. Just the gearing is a little weird for the track,” Hamlin explained. “There’s a lot of high-end RPM stuff, but same as everyone else. And then just, yeah, it just blew up on Lap 2. So, not really sure. They’ll look at it and figure it out, but certainly not ideal.”