“Don’t Halfway Do It”: Ryan Blaney Bluntly Calls Out “Hack” Denny Hamlin Post Costly Homestead Battle

Shaharyar | 23/10/2023
“Don’t Halfway Do It”: Ryan Blaney Bluntly Calls Out “Hack” Denny Hamlin Post Costly Homestead Battle

The year was 2021, and the stage was Martinsville’s fall race. Denny Hamlin got turned by Alex Bowman in the final few laps of the race, which led to Hamlin terming Bowman ‘a hack.’ But the tables seem to have turned a couple of years later now because it is Hamlin who is now being called ‘a hack’. And instead of Bowman being on the other side, it was Ryan Blaney.

During the recent race at Homestead, Blaney and Hamlin got into a bit of a tussle on the track, and even though Hamlin’s race and potentially his playoff campaign suffered a massive blow with a different incident later, the Penske driver didn’t mince his words about the veteran.

Ryan Blaney calls Denny Hamlin ‘a hack’ after Homestead

During a post-race interview, Blaney described the incident with Hamlin and made some interesting remarks that might’ve gotten a big thumbs up from a certain Alex Bowman. “He tried to slide me two or three times and failed miserably and then just decided to use me up,” he described.

If you’re going to slide somebody, slide somebody and commit. Don’t halfway do it and use me up. What did he say? Hack. I think he was that today.”

Ryan Blaney had a pretty chaotic day in Miami

Along with his on-track tussle with Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney had a pretty eventful race. The other big talking point from his race at Homestead was certainly his incident with Kyle Larson.

The Hendrick driver, who looked like a real contender to win the race, was behind Blaney as they both pulled down to make their way to the pits. However, Larson didn’t slow down enough and got too close to the Mustang of Blaney. In the end, he had to turn right to avoid running into him from behind, which he did. But in doing so, Larson ended up hitting the water barrels at the start of the pit road, which not only ended the #5’s race but also brought out the red flag, something Blaney didn’t want to see.

“I really didn’t want to see that red flag,” Blaney said after his runner-up finish. “I would have liked to have just raced it there with Larson because it was hot and a long run to the end and just see who kinda came out of the pit road ahead of each other honestly.”

In the end, the Penske driver added that he was proud of his team’s effort, that it was a good day and they had a long shot, but in the end, it didn’t work out for them.

Post Edited By: Ankit Sharma

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Shaharyar

Shaharyar is a NASCAR journalist at the SportsRush. Along with two years of experience covering the sport, he is also a filmmaker and a big fan of soccer. His favorite NASCAR drivers in the modern era of the sport are Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch but when it comes to the GOAT debate, he believes no one is or will ever be as great as Dale Earnhardt.