A lot of people have made a lot of assumptions, given a lot of theories, and shared a lot of opinions about what actually happened between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson at Pocono. Of course, Hamlin ended up winning the race, his 50th, Larson was mad, and the majority disagreed with what the #11 driver did.
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But if Hamlin’s opinion is to be considered about why what happened, or rather, who’s potentially at fault for his incident with Larson, the culprit comes out to be NASCAR, or to be more precise, the aerodynamics of the Next Gen car.
It’s worth clearing up that Hamlin didn’t accuse or blame the incident on the Next Gen car. He simply touched upon the nature of the aerodynamics of the current generation of the racecar and argued that it creates such conditions in which such situations, like his own with Larson, are produced.
Denny Hamlin on Next Gen’s role in his incident with Kyle Larson
Speaking in a recent episode of his podcast show, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin shared his thoughts on his controversial incident with Kyle Larson at Pocono. He said, “I understand that I won’t get the benefit of the doubt. I understand that it looks similar to last year. The result was not the same as last year, but it was certainly not the intent. The intent was to go in there, when he bobbled and shot up the racetrack. I have to clear right now, it’s the only shot.”
“Because we come off, side by side off the turn 2, that once I conceded that I was not going to get clear we were gonna have to race down the backstretch, it was over. He was gonna pinch me off in turn 2, and again, the only way a pass was going to be made for the lead, someone was going to get used up or someone made a mistake. That’s the only chance that a pass happens for the lead.”
This led to his co-host Jared Allen to wonder if the aerodynamics of the Next Gen car created the situation Hamlin had with Larson, to which the JGR driver said, “It does, which is why we put each other in these situations all the time. We do, it’s very very common. You can run right up to the, if you’re the inside car, you can run up to someone’s door on the outside and it also makes their car push really bad, and that makes them lift on the exit.”
“So if you think they’re gonna get clear off you, just run up to the left side of their door. It causes a huge tight moment, makes them lift, and then BAM! You get to stay side by side.”
Hamlin claimed he was innocent in incidents with both Larson and Bowman
Along with his much-talked-about incident with Larson at Pocono, Hamlin also had an incident with Alex Bowman during the race. In both incidents, the Hendrick cars came out on the wrong side of things. But Hamlin, after the race, claimed he didn’t do anything wrong with either of them.
“Both guys wrecked themselves. There was a lane. He missed the corner first, and evidently, he didn’t have his right-side tires clean and when he gassed it up he kept going again…I didn’t hit either one of them. I didn’t touch them,” Hamlin said.
With that said, it’s worth wondering if Denny Hamlin was actually at fault with Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman. The answer to that is a very subjective one.
But one thing’s pretty clear, Hamlin has attracted a lot of haters after Pocono, and potentially, more enemies on the racetrack.
