Denny Hamlin Injured After Wreck With Joey Logano [Video]

Denny Hamlin was injured in a last-lap wreck with Joey Logano as the two drivers were battling for the win. The wreck happened through turns 3 and 4 at the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California.

Hamlin and Logano had been harboring grudges against each other since last week’s race at Bristol. Hamlin spun Logano when the latter was racing for the lead.

Hamlin claimed Logano cut him off three times before in the race, but Logano showed his displeasure by running to Hamlin’s car and exchanging angry words with him before his team pulled him away.

This time, it appeared that Joey Logano may have paid Denny Hamlin back. The two were racing for the win on the final lap when Logano’s No. 22 car slid up the track into the No. 11 of Hamlin. Logano’s car went up into the wall, while Hamlin’s shot down the track and hit the inside wall where there was no SAFER barrier.

The hit was hard enough to take all four wheels off the ground. The FedEx driver was able to climb out of the car, but he collapsed immediately afterward.

Updates from Joe Gibbs Racing and Hamlin’s girlfriend have said that the NASCAR driver was airlifted to the hospital for tests. Hamlin is apparently suffering from extreme back pain, though he is awake and alert.

Immediately after the race, Joey Logano seemed unapologetic for the last-lap crash that took out Hamlin. While Logano finished in third place, Hamlin was listed as finishing in 25th. As the pair was wrecking, Kyle Busch was able to drive his No. 18 car past the two to take the checkered flag.

Joey Logano agreed to an interview after the race, and explained of the incident:

“He (Hamlin) probably shouldn’t have done what he did last week, so that’s what he gets. And besides that, I think our Auto Club Ford was very strong all day. I was very happy with the car we had. We were super fast, led a lot of laps. Nothing to hang our head down about, that’s for sure. We were very proud of that.”

It is not clear if Logano knew Denny Hamlin’s condition when he made the comments. Do you think Denny Hamlin’s wreck was Joey Logano’s fault, or could Logano’s car have simply been loose?

[Image via Action Sports Photography / Shutterstock.com]