CHICAGO: When NASCAR president Steve Phelps encouraged Cup drivers to embrace rivalries in February, Denny Hamlin took the suggestion to heart.
And it’s not that the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota needed prompting when it comes to Kyle Larson—or any driver in the Hendrick Motorsports stable. His run-ins with Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and William Byron also have been well-documented.
But over the last three races, the stakes—and tempers—have been elevated.
“This is three incidents in a row and I feel like I need to respond,” Hamlin said Monday on his podcast Actions Detrimental. “I’m in this for the long haul. I’m fine with the way we’re racing. And it’s going to keep going. And it’s going to keep getting raised.”
When Larson joined the HMS fold in 2021, he became a formidable opponent for Hamlin. Larson also became another roadblock between Hamlin and a Cup title—an achievement that has eluded the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota over 19 seasons.
While Larson was competitive in his seven seasons at Ganassi Racing, he nearly doubled his previous total of six victories during his first year with Hendrick. In addition to a 10-win season, Larson won the 2021 championship.
That same year, Larson had a run-in with Hamlin in the Southern 500. The No. 5 Chevy led a race-high 156 laps at Darlington Raceway before Hamlin snatched the lead with 69 circuits to go. Larson caught the No. 11 Toyota at the end, but Hamlin blocked the No. 5 Chevy. Larson ran into Hamlin, who held him off by .212 seconds at the finish.
The following spring at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Larson claimed the lead prior to the second stage end. Battling for the stage win, Hamlin tagged Larson coming out of Turn 4 in the tri-oval and took out both drivers.
“It’s just a product of this racing,” Larson said at the time.
In the spring race at Kansas Speedway in 2023, Hamlin and Larson were contending for the win—and once again, Larson led the most laps. He was in the lead on the white-flag lap when Hamlin squeezed him into the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Hamlin looked to the inside, used the chrome horn and sent Larson into the wall. Hamlin won. Larson finished second.
Later in the summer, perhaps the most egregious exchange between the drivers occurred at Pocono Raceway. Larson had the lead with seven laps remaining when Hamlin pinched the No. 5 Chevy into the Turn 2 wall. Tired of being a doormat, Larson retaliated. The pair traded paint under yellow on the front stretch but Hamlin went on to win his 50th Cup race.
“I’m not going to let it affect our friendship off the track,” Larson said. “But I’m pissed.”
The drivers finished first and second—with Hamlin winning his third race of the season—in the Bristol Night Race two months later without incident. The feud wouldn’t heat up again until this summer at the inaugural Cup race at Iowa.
Since then, it has been game-on between the drivers. Larson had the dominant car at Iowa Speedway. He led 80 of the first 214 laps and won the second stage. When the race returned to green, Larson bounced off of Daniel Suarez and spun into Hamlin, who collected Kyle Busch. After multiple repairs, Larson returned to the track and finished 34th, 36 laps off the pace.
Following the second stage in the rain-drenched romp at New Hampshire, the drivers traded paint again as Hamlin pressed the issue for position.
Hamlin insisted that Larson knocked him into Joey Logano and offered the No. 11 Toyota no room to clear Busch at the end of the stage. After Hamlin made his point with Larson, spotter Tyler Monn dressed down his driver, insisting that his nemesis will repeatedly take advantage of him as long as he allows it to happen. Larson told Monn to “shut up,” before wheeling his way to fourth and the points lead.
Monn’s message must’ve sunk in with Larson because last week at Nashville Speedway he was having none of Hamlin’s nonsense. Coming to the green-white-checker in Stage 2, Larson went wide into the corner with Hamlin on the outside and beat him to the line to finish third. Hamlin retaliated by slamming the back of the No. 5 Chevy as crew chief Chris Gabehart yelled and pleaded with him to stop.
After the race, a lengthy discussion continued between Hamlin and Gabehart on pit road.
“No, it wasn’t as intense after, for sure,” Hamlin said of the tête-à-tête. “But in the moment, he was trying to relay some information to me—and I don’t think he feels like he had my attention at that exact moment. That’s probably why the volume turned up when it did.”
Certainly, Larson gained Hamlin’s attention. On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week, he said the display was an effort to “show that I’m over it…or over the way I’ve been raced.” Ultimately, Larson would like Hamlin to race him with respect—or at least more than his “friend” has shown over the last four years.
Hamlin believes the caliber of the racers and the teams continues to thrust him and Larson into close quarters.
“A lot of it comes from us running in the same position most times,” Hamlin said. “When you get down to it, we’ve raced against each other for a lot of wins over the last few years. Really, no matter what team he’s raced for, he’s competed for race wins.
“I think a lot of it is we race at the same place, at the same time, most times.”
Still, since Larson’s first season in the No. 5 Chevrolet the aggression has picked up significantly between the two competitors. On Saturday at the Chicago Street Course, Larson said he hopes he can get back to having “fun” racing Hamlin again.
“When you can trust the moves someone is going to make on you, when you can have close racing and trust what they’re going to do, that’s fun to me,” Larson said. “I’ve always enjoyed racing him a lot—before the middle of last year. I’m sure we can get back to that point.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
