Denny Hamlin: Ross Chastain was ‘trying to wreck us’ at Talladega

Denny Hamlin and the Toyotas had a great plan to try and spice this race up. Ross Chastain had other plans. As the Toyota group, plus Spire Motorsports, came around to try and make a run around the rest of the field, Chastain put his car on the line.

This NASCAR race was a little bit different from what we have seen at the superspeedways lately. For one, there wasn’t a massive, unnecessary wreck at the end.

However, there was almost a big wreck. Carson Hocevar was leading Denny Hamlin and the Toyotas out of the green flag stops. As they sped around and caught Cody Ware and Ross Chastain, Chastain threw a block.

It was aggressive, kind of dumb, and a move that Chastain would make. It also worked.

“I didn’t know how far up we were actually going to be able to get, but certainly the 1 [Ross Chastain], you know, making a move there to kinda wreck us is not ideal, but I mean, he’s trying to do everything he can to stop the run,” Hamlin told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports after the race. “The variance of speed there was crazy.

The Toyota group tried to give the fans a show, at least. I mean, we were the only ones willing to race this thing out, run wide open, and see what happens, try to make a show of it.”

Ross Chastain’s move put a wrench in Toyota’s plans. It also set up a Ford vs. Chevy scenario at the end. Had a bowtie won, Chastain would have been owed a bonus or gift of some kind.

Denny Hamlin fades late at Talladega

With Ross Chastain messing things up for the Toyota group, Denny Hamlin fell back. He was really nowhere to be seen late in this race as the field stretched out into two rows and raced cleanly to the finish.

Hamlin is going to drop in the point standings as Kyle Larson jumps up four spots. William Byron still holds onto the points lead. With the win today, Cindric just jumped six spots in the standings on points alone. He is now 15th overall.

This regular season is just getting good as we are over one-third of the way through it. Playoff points and a trophy wait for one driver at the end of the 26-race slate. Then we get a 10-race battle in the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin and the Toyotas made Talladega interesting today. Hopefully, when the Cup Series returns this fall, more teams will be willing to take risks and switch things up.