Denny Hamlin issues scathing criticism of NASCAR officials after controversy in Chicago

Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin has gone in on NASCAR's officials following Sunday's Cup Series race in Chicago.

Shane van Gisbergen was the driver to win the Grant Park 165, once again proving his worth to Trackhouse Racing on a road course, but the end of the event was marred by a bizarre decision not to throw a caution sooner following a big crash.

Cody Ware blew a rotor and smashed into the wall at 93 miles per hour towards the end of the race, but astonishingly, it took NASCAR almost 35 seconds to bring out the caution, with Ware in his car pleading for help.

Speaking on the incident on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin does not believe the officials were good enough in this instance, nor the race more generally.

"This was not a good officiated race," the Joe Gibbs Racing star explained. ... "No question about it [it should be an instant yellow]."

"That was a massive hit. You have got to throw the caution immediately. That’s not a caution I would have liked to have seen by the way.”

Hamlin continued: “I’m always going to be on the side of crown the fair winner. The fair winner was SVG. And yes, if you get into a green-white-checkered, you could have a lot of issues. But you know what, that’s part of the deal,”

“Sometimes, you have things that you wish didn’t happen in the course of your event, but that’s just bad luck.

"Regardless of what they tell you, I think no question, rain coming in, the possibility of lightning, the possibility of a complete s***show worth of overtime, all of that played a factor, in my opinion."

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Hamlin: Officials not doing their job

NASCAR has since explained that they did not see the impact of the collision at the time, which is why they hesitated in throwing the caution.

However, Hamlin says that if they didn't see it, someone isn't doing their job properly.

"They’re saying they didn’t see how big the hit was, I don’t understand that," the three-time Daytona 500 winner admitted.

"You are not doing your job as officiating if you don’t see. It’s one thing to look and see there’s a car over there, you gotta know how they got there."

Hamlin concluded, suggesting other factors were at play: "I’m very certain in my belief that there was a lot of factors, some bad weather really close, that played a factor in when that caution was called.”

READ MORE: NASCAR confirm Ross Chastain penalty verdict after Joey Logano wreck

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