Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin rips Cole Custer for late race moves, post-race attitude

Cole Custer was the primary cause for two of the biggest wrecks at the Daytona 500 and Denny Hamlin, who was caught up in the second of the two, took issue with how he handled it after the race.

Custer came off a bit cavalier in a post-race interview with Bob Pockrass, which led to Hamlin calling him out on his Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday.

“Cole, I have nothing against Cole whatsoever,” Hamlin said. “But when he was doing his interview with Bob and chucking it up and laughing, he just caused two of the last big major wrecks of the 500. Just going for it. I’m like, ‘You don’t have to.'”

As much as anything else, Hamlin took issue with Cole Custer’s seeming approach toward the home stretch in the race. There seemed to be an inclination toward contact at the slightest perceived threat to his track positioning.

Hamlin explained that Custer, the younger driver, needs to have a more patient approach.

“When you’re pushing the 20 car there, that was not a dire situation,” Hamlin said. “You’re in a great spot to push the 20 clear. You get clear, race for the win. There’s plenty of time left. But some of these guys just get so excited that they think that they have to make a move now. And we have to, I’ve got to run into you right now. There is no tomorrow.”

Hamlin questioned Cole Custer’s experience level as a possible factor in what he deemed to be poor decision-making.

“I don’t know. I mean this happened so quickly. It’s why I didn’t really throw Cole under the bus,” Hamlin said. “But I’m a little agitated because he did, I mean he wrecked the 20 too, and all those cars. That’s two in a row. So is the moment too big? Probably. Probably.

“They find themselves in a position they haven’t been in before and they just don’t know what to do, and I’m here to try to give constructive criticism and say, ‘You don’t have to do it. Trust me on this. Race it out. See the finish line then do whatever you want to do.'”

It’s not a complaint that is limited to Cole Custer for Hamlin, who also called out Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for the same thing. That also caused a wreck that sidelined multiple drivers.

“It seems like those that are participating in it would understand and see the results every time you choose to make contact,” Hamlin said. “You know what the end result is going to be. Like that’s what I don’t understand. It’s why, in my opinion, right now one of the greatest superspeedway drivers we’ve got is Austin Cindric. When I go to the outside of him he doesn’t try to block. He knows what the result of that is going to be. He wants to live to race it off of (Turn) 4. And he knows if I get beside him, his race is not over. It’s not over. So let’s play this thing out.”

Hamlin would much prefer to see a competitive finish than the chaos that Cole Custer helped create on the last lap at the Daytona 500.

There’s a time and a place for contact. It’s just not when many drivers are choosing to make it.

“We’ve got a mile or more to go in this race. It’s OK. It’s OK. We can be three-wide,” Hamlin said. “Let’s see who gets the biggest push here. That’s why we had a fantastic finish at Atlanta. Everyone’s making such a big deal about Atlanta. Three-wide, racing for the lead. Did those guys touch each other? No, they raced it out to the finish and we saw a fantastic finish and it’s hailed as one of the greatest races ever because we had a three-wide close finish.

“I just don’t think we’re ever going to see that in Daytona again because the drivers just lose their minds and they just don’t understand.”