Denny Hamlin confronted Ross Chastain after controversial block at Talladega

Ross Chastain made a move during this past Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway that Denny Hamlin didn’t appreciate. As the Toyotas made their move on the outside of the track to catch up to the rest of the field, Chastain put a nasty block on Hamlin.

These two have had their issues on the racetrack before, and this was no different. Hamlin revealed on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that he had a conversation with Chastain after the race, where he presented him a what if scenario.

“I did, but I said it to him, I didn’t say it to the media,” Hamlin said. “I just threw a theoretical at him of roles reversed, if you had a decision to make, which is if I threw that block on you and put you to a decision, what would you do? Would you lift or would you say, ‘Denny, sorry, you made a stupid ass block. You got to pay for that.'”

Denny Hamlin: Ross Chastain block at Talladega was ‘bullshit racing’

In this particular instance, Hamlin believes NASCAR should have black-flagged Chastain for swerving in front of the charging pack at a lower speed and stalling their momentum. Hamlin wound up finishing a disappointing 21st, coming off two victories in the three prior races. Hamlin was a little subdued in his criticism of Chastain immediately after the race. Having time to think about it, he was close to being furious about it. He called Chastain’s move “bullshit racing.”

“But I believe the roles reversed, he would have, he would probably just run into me,” Hamlin said. “I would think he would run into me as he should and say, ‘I didn’t make you swerve. I was running my lane with the pack of cars that was on the racetrack. You tried to merge up into a lane that wasn’t there.’ So, I just think it’s bullshit racing and I think that um, I guess you got to just hold it down and if you cause a wreck, hopefully, you spin them out and don’t wreck yourself.

“That’ll be hard to do, but at some point, I’ve got caught in wrecks and finished so horribly lately on these superspeedways, it’s like, what do I care? At this point, just cram it in there and say, ‘Sorry, it was your fault, not mine.’”