NASCAR team owner reacts to Denny Hamlin comments over brutal playoff elimination

NASCAR team boss Justin Marks has opened up on his squad's solitary remaining playoff car being eliminated on Sunday.

Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain had survived two mistakes of his own making on pit road to go into the final lap at the Charlotte Roval with a chance of transferring to the Round of 8, if he could avoid being overtaken by the fast-approaching Denny Hamlin.

Unfortunately for the No. 1 car, Hamlin did pass him – and a do-or-die move into the final chicane, which saw Chastain cross the finish line in reverse gear – wasn't enough to save him.

However, Hamlin admitted after the race that he was unaware that his pass was so crucial for playoff progression, and hinted that he might've chosen to stay safely behind Chastain and knock reigning champion Joey Logano out of contention for the title.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Denny Hamlin fumes at team as 23XI star disqualified at Roval

NASCAR boss admits playoff exit was 'self-inflicted'

In a press conference after the race, Trackhouse boss Marks responded to Hamlin's comments, but admitted that his team had put themselves at risk, saying: "Well, I mean, I think for all of us watching, it’s really easy to be looking at the scoring pylon and looking at the points and us making decisions in our mind that we think that race car drivers are making decisions inside their car.

"I think ultimately everybody is out here to try to get the best finish and the best result for their team, and I don’t think anybody really owes it to anybody else to try to help anybody else.

"I think it’s nice to hear Denny say those things, but Denny is doing what he has to do for the 11 team and try to get the best finish that he can for the 11 team. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, it was a bit self-inflicted on the 1 team. We shouldn’t have been in the position that we were in having to fight for one point on the last lap and having to throw Hail Marys and all that kind of stuff.

"We need to be better on pit road. We need to eliminate the mistakes that were made today so we weren’t in that position.

"I think all this stuff, when we look at these cutoff races and it comes down to one point, two point, and one position and one position, you have to remember that everybody out here, they’re employed by somebody and they’re trying to do the best job for their race team and their boss. I guess that’s what I think about."

Trackhouse may not have had Chastain advance on the day, but they did extend their team-record number of race wins in a season thanks to Shane van Gisbergen taking his fifth Cup Series win in a row on road courses.

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