Denny Hamlin considers what happened between Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain at Darlington
Denny Hamlin had some thoughts on the on-track incident which took place between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson during last Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, the NASCAR Cup Series star offered an explanation for why things escalated the way they did, in which Chastain took himself and Larson out of contention just after the second-to-last restart.
“You definitely have to go back to previous restarts where Chastain was on the inside of Larson,” Hamlin said. “This is the one before Larson rubbed Chastain up. I think he was paying him back from earlier in the earlier restart where Chastain was — he didn’t give Kyle much room. He slid up pretty aggressively in the middle of [turns] 1 and 2 — it caused Kyle to check up a little bit because he probably thought he was about to get slammed. And then Ross just kind of kept pushing Kyle higher and higher on the exit of 2 where it caused Kyle to get up in the loose stuff, and then Kyle lost three or four positions.
“Kyle’s one of those guys, like, he’ll race you pretty fair, but you do stuff like that, certainly he’s gonna give it back to ya. He’s gonna rough you up a little bit or maybe door ya… Then you had the restart with nine to go or so. Kyle Larson goes into Turn 1, he’s on the inside of Ross — he clearly just goes up there.
Denny Hamlin dishes on what led to Ross Chastain-Kyle Larson incident at Darlington
“… So, Larson — he definitely got wronged by Chastain when he got moved up the race track in Turn 2. Not only did he lose the lead, he lost second, and third place. He went back to fourth. That was a pretty crucial moment of the race. So, later on… they go into Turn 1 and Kyle instantly just kinda lets go of the wheel and just kinda moves up the race track… no harm no foul, they were side-by-side, caution came out, video showed that Chastain was now the leader. Chastain then picks the inside and is like ‘well I’m not gonna let that happen again.’
“And you even heard him on the radio trying to analyze, what lane do I pick? He chose the inside and he just went into the corner, and now again, I’m not sticking up for him, I’m not for the record. Kyle did hedge down the race track a little bit, he wanted to have extra room to the wall. Either way, I think they were going to make significant contact through as much throttle as they were carrying into the corner.”
Ross Chastain addresses incident with Hendrick Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing
Chastain, known for his aggressive racing style, faced criticism after the race from Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports. He eventually had a chat with Hendrick, as well as his boss in Trackhouse Racing co-owner Justin Marks and Chevrolet.
“Talked with Chevy, with GM,” Chastain said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “I’ve talked to Rick, I’ve talked with Justin, obviously. I’ve talked with Kyle, I’ve talked with a lot of people and I feel really good with where we’re at. But I will keep those conversations [private].
“I called Rick. That was not the reason I want to be calling him but it’s not the first time we’ve talked and I don’t think it will be the last. One day I hope I’m able to laugh with him about it. Look it’s still crazy to me that Rick Hendrick knows my name. Now right now it’s for the wrong reasons but seriously, he knew my name before. We talked about other things other than just Darlington and he had some really good life advice.
“A guy like that, that he would take my call and talk to me, like I said, it’s not the first time but it’s still surreal to me. I was a kid that never ran a late model as nice as Pinnacle’s here. So to have Rick Hendrick know my name is absolutely amazing.”