As the raindrops started coming down on the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, some believed that NASCAR might not restart the Cup Series race. Denny Hamlin was one such driver who then proceeded to race Kyle Larson hard to get as much track position as possible. The two racers made contact and tempers boiled over for the Hendrick Motorsports star after the incident.
Advertisement
For Hamlin this was just hard racing for a potential win in case rain forced NASCAR to end the event early. In a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the driver of the #11 car said that he left enough space for the #5 car, but Larson was just not going to let him by. Hamlin, on four fresh tires, was a lot faster than the HMS driver on two. As the battle continued on track, Hamlin decided to run him up, since he did not have the time to jostle around for that long.
“I don’t have time to be screwing with you here. I got to get clear. You’re not going to hold me off, which means you’re not going to win the race. We just won’t give each other an inch to clear. And then off of Turn 4 the next lap, I run him up because I’m like ‘F*** this, dude. I gotta go.” – Denny Hamlin.
The 43-year-old running Larson up the track led to a fiery interaction between the 2021 Cup Series champion and his spotter Tyler Monn.
All the times Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have made contact in races. Let me know if I’m missing any
2016 Kansas 1
2019 Auto Club
2021 Darlington 2
2021 Bristol 2
2022 Atlanta 1
2022 Texas 2
2023 COTA
2023 Kansas 1
2023 Pocono
2023 Kansas 2
2023 Richmond 2
2024 Iowa
2024 Loudon pic.twitter.com/3bnxcv6YXU— FireBall Hamlin (@Fireball_Hamlin) June 24, 2024
Kyle Larson’s fiery exchange with his spotter
Monn said that Hamlin was able to run Larson up the track because the latter allowed him to do it. This annoyed the driver of the #5 car who hit back with a not-so-subtle “shut the f*** up.” Fans are not used to seeing Larson like that but Hamlin was in full support of the reaction.
“I agree with Kyle Larson. Tyler should shut the f*** up,” he said. The JGR driver also explained how Monn would never say anything if Larson was the one running people up the track. But then again, Hamlin also understands that spotters have to be biased towards their driver.
Regardless of the profanities, the incident made for spectacular viewing for the fans as they witnessed two of the best in the sport go at it with everything they had, long before the race reached its conclusion.
