WATCH: Denny Hamlin races Ross Chastain into the wall down the stretch at Pocono

NASCAR fans were treated to the next step of an ongoing rivalry between Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain with Hamlin running him into the wall. The final 20 laps of the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono saw a restart begin and end with Hamlin and Chastain dueling each other for first place — resulting in Chastain wrecking into the wall.

CHASTAIN INTO THE WALL! pic.twitter.com/WWZmlpQYGi

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 24, 2022

Hamlin gets revenge on Chastain at Pocono

The fates seemed to align perfectly for an exciting finish between the two as they have built up bad blood between each other with tough racing. Hamlin has been one of the biggest critics of Chastain’s driving as he had been on the receiving end of a few on-track incidents — and he was given a golden opportunity to get some revenge on Sunday.

A late restart with under 20 laps to go pitted the pair against each other for first place down the stretch, with Hamlin taking a slim advantage. With Hamlin on the inside and slightly in front of Chastain, the pair ran though a corner with Hamlin taking a strong racing line that pushed Chastain into a bad situation. Chastain opted to continue battling for the lead instead of easing off, resulting in Hamlin crowding Chastain into the wall and ending his race.

While the race came into the final laps, Chastain was interviewed about the wreck and asked if he felt like it was “revenge” from Hamlin for their history this season. Chastain joked that it was a couple of months in the making and he was sure it was revenge and more that caused the wreck. When asked if he felt this evened their score and if it would signal the end of the feud, Chastain laughed and said he didn’t know.

Fans of Hamlin felt that the move was a savvy veteran play, allowing Chastain to wreck himself instead of driving “dirty” to get revenge. Critics of his felt that the move showed that Hamlin was just as aggressive on the track as he claims Chastain is, and that the wreck ruined a potential battle between two great drivers down the stretch.

Hamlin’s tough racing resulted in not just a sweet moment of revenge — Hamlin took the race and won his third race of the Cup Series this year. Hamlin is now tied with Chase Elliott as the only drivers with three wins this season, and vaulted up the leaderboard into the current No. 2 position of the playoffs.

UPDATE: NASCAR announced following the race’s conclusion that Hamlin and second-place finisher Kyle Busch were both disqualified from the race after failing post-race inspections. As a result, the race win was awarded to third-place finisher and Cup Series-leader Chase Elliott. The win was Elliott’s fourth of the season.