Denny Hamlin fires back at Cole Custer comment about Christopher Bell wreck in Daytona 500

Last night, Denny Hamlin had the lead on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Ultimately, he would fall short of his fourth win in the prestigious event. A late block or poorly timed move from Cole Custer led to the wreck that changed the outcome of the NASCAR race.

William Byron walked away as a back-to-back Daytona 500 champion. He was scored in seventh place when the wreck broke out. On the outside lane, he came out of the wreckage with a clean car and raced to the line with Tyler Reddick following.

NASCAR did not throw the caution flag at the end of the race. Cole Custer had a run coming up behind Denny Hamlin. Custer then moved to the lead of the outside line. Then he inexplicably came down into the 11-car and triggered the wreck.

Prior to that wreck in overtime, Custer pushed Christopher Bell too hard and into the outside wall. That wreck caused Ryan Preece to flip before the smoke had cleared. That was what sent the race into overtime in the first place.

Kelly Crandall of RACER.com posted a quote from Custer after the race. Hamlin couldn’t help but reply to it.

“Cole Custer on pushing Christopher Bell… ‘I can’t lay off him with three to go. Really hard to make a decision there,'” Crandall reported.

“Yes you can,” Hamlin replied.

Yes you can

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 17, 2025

I’m sure we will hear more thoughts about this race from Denny Hamlin later today. His Actions Detrimental podcast is back for another season. That fourth Daytona 500 was there for the taking.

Denny Hamlin laid blame at Cole Custer’s feet

A disappointing end to the week for many drivers. Perhaps none more than Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin. Cindric and the Team Penske cars as a whole were probably the fastest cars on the track. In the end, Ryan Blaney was the only one with a top-10 finish as Cindric and Joey Logano crashed.

As he usually does, Hamlin had himself in position when overtime started. But another driver being overly aggressive ended his race.

“The 41(Cole Custer) had the run and I chose not to block him,” Hamlin said. “In these races, you gotta live to make it off of turn 4 and we just didn’t. I thought that the 41 came down. I’m pushing the 2 down as low as I can, giving the 41 all the space and not stopping his run.

“I thought he steered left and was trying to crowd it. I understand everyone’s trying to go for it, and he’s going for it. All of us are. But in those situations, we gotta get off of 4, then we can do this. But we just never made it and someone else won. I don’t even know where William [Byron] was running.”