The 2025 Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend saw William Byron and Ross Chastain duel it out before the Trackhouse Racing driver clinched his first win of the season at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Denny Hamlin also looked like a contender to win at one point, but it was not to be.
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Issues with fueling led to Hamlin slipping out of contention. However, controversies that typically follow Hamlin did appear this Sunday, too. Some fans seem to think the Joe Gibbs Racing driver caused Byron to lose position to Chastain.
Calling out specific ‘Hendrick Motorsports fans’ who seemed to have propagated this notion online, the No. 11 driver did not mince his words. Actions Detrimental saw Hamlin unleash his wrath.
“What the f*** are people watching? I was behind him [Byron] when he stepped on his d—,” said Hamlin.
During the final planned pit stop, the No. 11 crew misjudged fueling, which led to Hamlin running out of fuel while dueling for position with Byron. The forced, unscheduled stop put Hamlin several laps down from the competition, essentially killing any chance of winning the race.
And then came the moment that fans pointed out as controversial. Upon reentry into the race following the unscheduled pit stop, the Toyota Camry XSE driver found himself ahead of the No. 24 of Byron, albeit several laps down.
At this point, the No. 1 driven by Chastain was chasing the HMS driver for the lead. Since Hamlin was not in contention and was being lapped, he allowed both the leader and the second-place car to overtake him into turn one on the track by lifting more than necessary to make the corner.
“How can I hold him [Byron] up?” asks Hamlin
Byron, in fact, subsequently lost out due to another lapped car, driven by Joey Logano, which caused him to lose momentum later as the laps counted down. This is when Hamlin self-admittedly repassed both Byron and Chastain, not for position, but to keep his hopes of a decent finish alive if a caution came out.
“What are these people watching?” questioned a dumbfounded Hamlin. “How can I hold him [Byron] up when I’m behind him? How can people be that dumb? If you said that, you’re an idiot. I mean, that is asinine,” he summed up.
Byron also spoke about his confusion about how Logano drove in a post-race interview. But Hamlin was vilified yet again.
Hamlin and his persona as the NASCAR villain could be one factor at play here, with fans supporting Byron looking for reasons to put their star’s loss on Hamlin. The truth is that Chastain did a better job than Byron in the specific scenario, just as the laps closed out on the 600-mile-long race.
And as always, Hamlin seems to be revelling in the fact that he is faced with flak, warranted or not.
