Denny Hamlin reacts to Ross Chastain no comment on early dive bomb at COTA: 'I don't love it'

Following a controversial dustup between Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott at COTA, NASCAR fans were left wondering how the two felt about the on-track incident, because neither driver cared to comment on it after the race.

The incident in question occurred on Lap 1, when Chastain dive-bombed Elliott off a turn, spinning him out and collecting Denny Hamlin and Connor Zilisch in the process.

After the race, Hamlin made it clear he’s not a fan of the no comment.

“Listen, I don’t know. I don’t know about the not commenting. Certainly I don’t love it,” Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “But certainly for me I like to comment on everything and it’s my job to. But I’ll just use a quote for Ross, then, from my standpoint. I believe he said it this past weekend in regards to last week. ‘Denny Hamlin will say about that incident I’m disappointed, I’m just disappointed with the decisions.'”

The first-lap wreck could have come with more serious consequences, had Elliott acted on some stated desires to get even.

Elliott caught up to Ross Chastain later in the race and with a few laps to go had a chance to make good on his promise to wreck Chastain. Instead, Chastain ducked out of it and allowed Elliott to pass him.

“You heard Chase Elliott, what did Chase say after the race? Or maybe during the race? He was on the radio like, ‘Yeah, I’ll get his ass, but just make sure that I didn’t do anything wrong first,'” Hamlin relayed. “Talk about being level-headed. That is such a Chase response, too. Any time there’s an incident Chase is in, I give him so much credit, because he goes up there and he says, ‘OK, I’m about to lose my shit, but before I lose my shit can you just analyze and make sure I didn’t do anything wrong first before I go out there and make a fool of myself?'”

Still, Hamlin came away from the experience wanting to know a few things. Why did Ross Chastain think he could make it in the corner? Why didn’t Elliott go for the revenge when presented the opportunity?

Neither driver presented those answers.

“I think to each his own,” Hamlin said. “It’s hard for me to judge why the no comment, but obviously as a media person like I am today, right, it’s my job to analyze and just say, ‘Eh, wish we would have got something out of you there.'”

Hamlin’s co-host on the podcast offered a creative solution to get drivers to open up more post-race. He said that FOX’s post-race interviewers should carry a tablet with them, so they can quickly show a replay of key moments from the race.

Then it’ll be much harder to duck out of questions, like Ross Chastain did on Sunday evening.

“I like that. I like that because for us media members it’s crucial to getting those comments and those snippets of quotes from the driver when they’re hot, right out of the car, they just got wrecked,” Hamlin said. “Show them that they got wrecked and then we’ll get those bold comments from them. So it would be better for FOX and others to like, ‘Hey, here’s what happened,’ right before a cut to Jamie Little and Jamie asks you what did you see out there.”