Hamlin crashes, apologizes for "embarrassing" mistake

Hamlin was running fifth at the time of the accident, which brought out the fourth caution of the race, just before the halfway point.

Hamlin had worked his way back through the field after a early speeding penalty, hoping to win for the sixth time at the Virginia short track. After hitting the wall, he apologized to the team and was told take it directly to the garage. “I’m so sorry man,” Hamlin radioed as he limped the No. 11 Toyota back.

"it was my first ever time (wheel-hopping) here, so it's a little embarrassing," he told TV after the wreck.

"I was really out of the blue. I didn’t ever have a hint of it up until that moment, so a bit of a rookie move on my part – been around here too much to do something like that, but learning for the fall and I’m really encouraged about how good our car came up through the pack.

"I really thought we had a car that could win," he concluded.

The race restarted on Lap 227 with two of his teammates (Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth) leading the way. Hamlin, the 2016 Daytona 500 winner, came into this race fourth in the championship standings.

He will finish 39th.