NASCAR star Denny Hamlin takes thinly-veiled DIG at Team Penske after illegal car drama

Denny Hamlin has taken a barely-veiled jab at Team Penske after last weekend's Indy 500 qualifying scandal.

The historic team had two of their cars penalized for running illegal parts, which pushed Josef Newgarden and Will Power to the back of the field for Sunday's race.

That punishment was followed by three key members of the team's IndyCar operation being sacked on Wednesday, including team president Tim Cindric, father of NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin.

The topic of the Indy 500 came up on Hamlin's Actions Detrimental podcast this week, discussing the number of massive wrecks across the week of practice and qualifying, including one for his Cup Series rival Kyle Larson.

READ MORE: Penske sacks IndyCar trio over Indy 500 cheating scandal

Hamlin: Indy 500 has compelling stories this year

“From a spectator’s point of view…I don’t want anyone to get hurt, for sure, I’m in the business so I understand,” Hamlin explained on the podcast.

“But it's made it more compelling to watch for me because I know that the cars are on edge more. You don't know what you're gonna see, is the person, are they gonna have to lift or not?

“I think, when it's an easy wide open [throttle] and it's just all about, you know, how slick can your team make your car…If you’re part of the Penske team it appears you’ve made your car a little too slick…it’s compelling from that standpoint.

“And then obviously, we had an upset. New team, new driver on ovals winning the poll for the Indy 500, right? Good compelling stories.”

READ MORE: Team Penske suffer HUGE demotion as official statement confirms MULTIPLE penalties

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