Denny Hamlin says Chase Elliott was struggling all day before wreck

Denny Hamlin said that Chase Elliott was having a sh** day before he intentionally dumped him during Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“He was having a sh** day anyway, in his opinion, and he threw a little temper tantrum and decided to hook a left on us down the straightaway,” Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Tuesday. “And not only the straightaway, but the f—— dogleg. Like, I hit heat on. Not sideways. Like, the worst part of the racetrack that I could possibly hit.”

Denny Hamlin wrecked against the wall after contact with Chase Elliott👀

He's NOT happy.pic.twitter.com/BtC02fh0LW

— On3 Pro (@On3ProSports) May 29, 2023

The crash occurred on the front stretch after Elliott made contact with the wall coming out of Turn 4 with Hamlin beside him. Elliott appeared to take exception with being squeezed against the wall by Hamlin, and responded by deliberately hooking him.

NASCAR suspended Elliott for intentionally dumping Hamlin on Lap 186. Elliott, who missed six races earlier this season recovering from a leg injury, will miss a seventh — the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway this Sunday.

Hamlin had called for Elliott’s suspension, saying there was “no possible explanation that he could possibly give” for turning Hamlin into the wall on the front straightaway.

NASCAR suspends Chase Elliott for intentionally dumping Denny Hamlin

“There’s no possible explanation that he could possibly give — which he didn’t — of reason for hanging a left,” Hamlin said. “You know, he obviously didn’t want to admit it. He did the ‘Ahh I can’t hear you, sorry I can’t hear what you’re saying, but yeah, my car, just couldn’t drive it.’ Bulls—. The f—— wheels were dead straight. Even after we crashed and like, destroyed our s—, he goes down the back straightaway. And look at both tires. Front tires are pointing the correct direction. And I pointed out in the data that I tweeted that once he got into the wall, there was nothing wrong with his car.

“He turned the wheel back straight like he was going down the straightaway. And you can tell by data whether you’ve got toe link damage or not. So you can tell that basically if your line is skewed one direction or another where you had to turn it left, turn it right where the bent a toe link or done significant damage.

“For God sakes, Tyler Reddick pounded the wall twice as hard as he did and didn’t hurt his car. Everyone hits the wall, but he threw a hissy fit and he just hung a left on us [on] the most dangerous part of the racetrack that you possibly could. It ended my day and in my opinion, he shouldn’t be racing next weekend because NASCAR set a precedent last year on this.”