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NASCAR America: What you see isn’t always what you saw (video)

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Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte analyze the run-in between Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott at Martinsville, saying it's a product of the playoffs.

On Monday’s edition of NASCAR America on NBCSN, analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte examined Sunday’s race at Martinsville from a number of different directions.

One of the more unique aspects was how Burton and Letarte had to re-watch a good chunk of the race to determine if what they saw was really accurate -- or whether things seemed different after a second look-see.

Here’s an excerpt of what both analysts had to say:

JEFF BURTON: “I always look at wrecks in the sense with what I think I saw, but it isn’t always what I thought I saw. So I initially thought Denny Hamlin got in the corner too deep, the 24 blocked him and halfway down the straightaway, the 11 car said he wasn’t having anything to do with it and got into the back of him. That was my initial thought. The 24 had moved down the racetrack halfway down the back(stretch) and that he got Denny Hamlin mad for blocking him. The end result was the 24 went around.”

STEVE LETARTE (On why the Denny Hamlin-Chase Elliott incident happened): “I think Denny Hamlin answered that very quickly in his interview that there was a trip to Homestead on the line. NASCAR has created this format, which I’m a huge fan of. We didn’t think racecar drivers could drive any different, and I think we’ve been proved wrong week in and week out. Denny Hamlin said he has never spun the leader to win the race. I don’t know if that’s true, but I can’t remember a time when Denny has made obvious contact, but that’s what it was Sunday night at Martinsville. It was obvious to me that he had a plan and he was moving the 24 out of the way. Do I think he meant to spin him out, no, because I don’t think that helped Denny Hamlin. … It’s the chaos of the playoffs and what’s on the line, it’s that golden ticket, the magic ticket, the guaranteed spot at Miami.”

Check out the video above to get all their thoughts on what you see first isn’t always what you get the second time around.