LONG POND, PA. – Move over Ross Chastain, NASCAR has a new villain—and it’s your old nemesis, Denny Hamlin.
Yes, Hamlin enjoyed a milestone day at Pocono Raceway on Sunday. He scored a record seventh win at the Tricky Triangle, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.
He scored his 50th career Cup Series win. And he posted the 600th victory for Toyota Racing.
But after knocking his buddy Kyle Larson off the point with seven laps remaining to gain the lead, Hamlin’s accomplishment was met with a resounding chorus of boos from the fans—and disdain from two champions — Larson and Martin Truex Jr.
“The team did a really good job to recover from the mishap early to put ourselves in a position to win, so kudos to them,” said Larson, who spun on Lap 47 after contact with Christopher Bell. “Yeah, just unfortunate, but hey. I guess I got a lot of receipts now, so we‘ll return the favor eventually.”
With pit strategy and a little luck, Larson cycled back to the lead on Lap 82. He remained on the track and won the second stage. After pitting during the caution, a two-tire stop on Lap 120 enabled Larson to return to the point on Lap 144 following the eighth of 11 cautions.
Larson had led 24 laps when Hamlin crowded him entering Turn 1 on the Lap 154 restart, and the No. 5 Chevrolet slid into the outside wall. Justin Haley spun before the field could complete the lap. Larson, who had dropped to fourth, drove up to show his displeasure to Hamlin by rubbing him into the wall at the start finish line.
When asked whether he would attempt to reach out to Hamlin for an explanation, Larson replied, “He’s right about everything. So, I don’t know that there’s much talking to him.”
Larson dropped to 21st at the finish. Although he insists the on-track incident would not affect his relationship with Hamlin, Larson acknowledged he was “pissed.”
“I’ve never had to apologize to him for anything, anything I’ve ever done on the race track,” Larson said. “I can count four or five times when he’s had to reach out to me. ‘Oh man, sorry I put you in a bad spot out there.’ Whatever. So eventually, like he says, you have to start racing people a certain way to get the respect back.
“He pulled the same move on Ross last year—which Ross probably deserved it, right? With a ll the stuff he’s done to Denny in his career. Again, I haven’t done that to Denny. So I don’t think I deserve to be run into before I ever got to the wall. It is what it is.”
“It was interesting. I pushed him all the way into Turn 1,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know if he didn’t have his tires clean and then washed up the race track. Then we got side by side and he chose not to lift.
“It’s just one of those things that when you’re on the outside and you’re in a bad aero position. I didn’t touch him, and he just made the decision not to lift.”
Hamlin said there was no reason to respond to Larson’s retaliation under the penultimate caution.
“Well, NASCAR has got new rules in place to protect against that, so I’ll let them handle that afterward,” Hamlin said. “But it’s just, has he never slid anyone, ever?”
Hamlin’s boss and team owner Joe Gibbs deflected questions regarding the incident during the post-race availabilities. Hamlin’s teammate Truex didn’t plead the fifth.
“I guess I should have restarted behind the 5 and pushed him into the (freaking) wall like he (Hamlin) did,” Truex told the No. 19 crew over the radio. His comments in post-race were more measured.
“I just didn’t get the push I needed to get to the lead like I did earlier in the race,” Truex said. “Unfortunately that’s what it’s all about here. Getting the right restart, getting the lead. Denny did the right thing, but then he used the 5 up to get the lead, and so he’s probably going to pay for that one. So short-term gain, long-term loss maybe.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
