Looking back at Sunday’s race at Pocono, Denny Hamlin’s aggressive move on Kyle Larson on the way to winning his 50th Cup race received poor reception. After the JGR driver decided to drive along Larson’s inside, the HMS driver, who did not lift, found himself grazing the wall. Within a moment, Larson not only lost the chance of winning the race but also ended up finishing in the lower half of the field.
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Speaking about Hamlin’s move on Larson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed that it was indeed a ‘dirty move’, but also argued why Hamlin would have done it, considering that the pair are well-known friends on the race track.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks Denny Hamlin’s move was dirty
Even though Hamlin’s move was claimed to have been dirty, his intention was not to ruin Larson’s race. Instead, it was purely in the heat of competition, where he must have thought only about the win at hand.
Talking about the matter, Junior stated, “I agree that it was a dirty move… Yeah, I agree. It is a dirty move to dooring to throttle up and just dooring. But it’s for the win, you know?”
He then brought up the friendship argument, stating, “It’s not how you would expect friends to race friends. Maybe that friendship which I’ve seen this and I’ve been part of this on the racetrack.”
Junior explains the one caveat of racing between friends
Delving further into the topic and the argument about racing friends, Junior added, “When you got buddies, you use them up. Oh, yeah. Because you know, you’re like, ‘Hey, man, I know this guy. I know he is not gonna do anything, I know… I know it.'”
“You know, I can I know, I feel like I can take advantage of this situation and get out of the car and go, ‘Hey, bud. Come on, man. You know, we just racing.’ Yeah, I’ve seen it before from other drivers that were friends and I’ve been in that situation with other drivers that were friends.”
Considering the experience that Junior has had in the sport, his perspective brings fresh insight into the ongoing drama between Larson and Hamlin. Earnhardt also believes that if the roles were reversed, Larson would have done the exact same. After all, despite being friends, everyone is racing for themselves once out on the race track.
