March 29, 2024

Hamlin won’t race this weekend at Richmond

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Denny Hamlin wasn’t cleared to race at his home track in Richmond.

Hamlin sustained a compression fracture of a vertebra in his lower back in a last-lap accident at California on March 24. Doctors said he’d miss at least five races, but Hamlin hoped to return early to race at Richmond, where he’s a two-time winner.

But Hamlin wasn’t cleared Wednesday to race after visits to Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates, and apparently consultations with others.