Denny Hamlin: Richard Childress ‘destroyed’ a JGR car in police escort leaving Homestead

Following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Denny Hamlin claims Richard Childress had a bit of road rage. Hamlin recently told a wild story that involves a police escort and Childress treating the highway like a superspeedway.

It is not uncommon for teams to get police escorts while traveling. Joe Gibbs Racing arranged for one on their way home. During the escort, things went a little sideways.

Not only did Denny Hamlin’s car, driven by his photographer and podcast co-host Jared Allen, lose the escort, but they also witnessed a fit of road rage. Richard Childress wanted to be part of the speedy escort home.

“Let me tell you. Let me tell you how important it is to not lose the draft,” Denny Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “Richard Childress, okay, Richard Childress was not part of this escort. He was part of the vehicles that needed to move out of [the way]. The police got him to move out of the way.

“Well, somebody, within Joe Gibbs Racing [left] a gap, and Richard says, ‘Well, I’m joining this escort whether you guys like it or not.’ And he forced his way in. Well, this employee says, ‘No you can’t just join in,’ so he pulled up beside him. What did Richard Childress do? He hung a left, destroyed the side of the car. He did, he turned left, I witnessed, we were right behind it. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, did he just, he did.’ And I was like, ‘Jared pull up, pull up to the car.’ The right side of the JGR car was destroyed and Richard he just stayed in the gas. I mean, hung a left on them and just doored the s**t out of our car. I couldn’t believe it.”

That is an absolutely wild story but somehow very much on-brand for Richard Childress. He couldn’t have been happy with how the No. 8 team performed on Sunday. Austin Dillon ended up having a decent day at the track.

I don’t know what Childress was thinking. However, Denny Hamlin makes it sound like a scene from a movie. Next time I’m at a race, remind me to avoid Childress on the road.

If you are that JGR employee, how do you handle this? If it was a rental, do you just let it slide and have insurance take care of it? It feels like a very sticky situation. However, someone like Richard Childress should know better than to act like that on the road.