KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas Speedway hasn’t been kind to championship contenders this season.

Just weeks after Dale Earnhardt Jr. sustained a concussion during a tire test on the track’s repaved surface, Denny Hamlin slammed into the wall at 202 mph during a day of testing Thursday. The hit was so hard that he was encouraged by NASCAR to seek an evaluation in the infield care center even after driving back to the garage.

Hamlin was part of a full-field test on Kansas’ new asphalt when he clipped the rear of his No. 11 Toyota on the wall entering the first turn. The car shot toward the apron and Hamlin said he over-corrected, sending it hurtling into the wall.

Hamlin parked the battered car in the garage area and spent a couple minutes looking it over with his team. NASCAR officials also examined the car, considered the severity of the impact and then encouraged him to get checked out by medical staff.

It was the first time Hamlin could remember NASCAR requesting him to visit the care center.

“Obviously the severity of it, and the speeds we were running, it was a wise thing to do anyway,” he said. “Just bell-rung, typical hard-hit, ring-your-bell kind of thing. You get jarred around, you feel a little out of it at first. Everything came back OK.”

It was the second day of testing ahead of Sunday’s race, the sixth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, and took out the primary car of one of the leading contenders.

“Little disappointed in losing that car. That car was pretty quick,” said Hamlin.