Hamlin's Headaches a Cause for Concern

Denny Hamlin wasn't allowed to race on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway because of vision problems related to a sinus infection. He spent Sunday in a local hospital undergoing a CT scan to see what may be causing severe headaches and vision problems.

Crew chief Darian Grubb said the team expects Hamlin to be back for Martinsville.

"For him to go the infield care center, for one thing, it must have been pretty bad for him," Grubb said. "Then it got to where he couldn't see and was having trouble with vision in his left eye with all the pressure that was going on. At that point, NASCAR did some testing and knew he could not follow the finger going by his eyes as he should have been so they knew at that point,they weren't going to let him go. It wasn't just a headache, it was more serious than that. That's why they're doing the CT Scan. He had them on the whole time and was just holding his head, it hurt him so bad. You could tell by the look on his face he was really worried."

Team owner Joe Gibbs confirmed that Hamlin left the track immediately before the race started and that by late afternoon "they are still running tests. It will be later on before we get results."

He will be further evaluated this week in Charlotte.