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Denny Hamlin torches Chase Elliott, calls for his suspension after Coca-Cola 600 wreck

by:Austin Brezina•05/29/23•

AustinBrezina59

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Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Denny Hamlin suffered a brutal crash into the wall during the Coca-Cola 600 after bumping Chase Elliott, leading to high tensions. Hamlin, and fans around the nation claimed the violent wreck was intentionally caused by Elliott — a sentiment that Hamlin shared without reservation while interviewed on the track later.

Neither driver was able to reach the end of Stage 2 during the race, with the wreck taking place on Lap 186. After a late restart, Hamlin bumped Elliott slightly as the cars were racing three-wide although nothing happened to either vehicle at that moment. Then, Hamlin once again got tight with the No. 9 car and Elliott went into the wall.

According to Elliott afterwards, the wreck took away all of his control of the vehicle and he slammed back into Hamlin — leading to a painful looking wreck against the wall. Luckily, both drivers were cleared by the medical teams on standby and were okay following the accident.

Denny Hamlin calls for Chase Elliott suspension following wreck

“That is complete BS, they should park his butt,” paraphrased the broadcast crew while sharing what Hamlin said on his radio feed immediately after the wreck.

“That was 100% intentional, it doesn’t get more intentional than that,” added Hamlin’s crew chief.

Later, Hamlin was interviewed directly about the accident and didn’t mince his words.

“I got right rear hooked in the middle of a straightaway. Yeah, it’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week. Right rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable. I don’t care, it’s the same thing Bubba Wallace did with Kyle Larson. The exact same. He shouldn’t be racing. Tantrum.”

Hamlin’s reference to another accident was from Wallace’s suspension last October for crashing Kyle Larson intentionally during Lap 94 of the South Point 400. While it will certainly be investigated by NASCAR officials, Elliott provided a very different version of events from his perspective.

“The 11 ran us up in the fence there. Once you turn the right sides off these things it’s kinda over,” explained Elliott. “An unfortunate circumstance.”