Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are two of the best drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series right now. Being so inevitably brings cutting-edge competition between them on the race track. The result of that are situations that often leave one or the other unhappy with the way they’re being raced. The latest races in New Hampshire and Nashville provided great examples of the same.
Advertisement
Larson ran Hamlin up the track towards the end of Stage 2 at the Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday. As Hamlin tried resorting to lesser-than-professional means to try and get back at his counterpart, his crew chief Chris Gabehart had to intervene on the radio and calm him down. Despite all this heat, neither driver is of the idea that they’ve got an ongoing rivalry between them.
Larson said to the press after the race, “I wouldn’t agree or disagree [about having an ongoing rivalry]. It comes and goes. I feel like we race well together at times and there’s times where I feel like he races me, not the fairest. I’m sure he feels the same way. So, yeah. It’s not an ongoing rivalry.” That said, Larson does hope that he could get a bit of respect from Hamlin.
Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin on how they raced each other and the end of Stage 2: pic.twitter.com/SF0iPi7g4M
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 1, 2024
From Hamlin’s perspective, Larson running him up the track was just something done to get back at him for doing the same at New Hampshire the earlier weekend. “I mean, it was an eye for an eye,” he said to Bob Pockrass. “I ran him up the track last week and he ran me up this week and it’s all good.” Hopes are that these tiny instances don’t culminate in a more brash incident.
Hamlin reiterates that neither he nor Larson is trying to run into each other
Before the race on Sunday, the Joe Gibbs Racing superstar touched upon the recent clashes with Larson during his media availability. He admitted that Larson was one of the best drivers in the sport right now and that forces him to race him hard.
“I don’t think anyone is deliberately running into each other,” he said. “Although it does happen. I’ve certainly had my mistakes and he’s been on the bad end of those.”
“But it comes from competition and wanting to beat him. He’s one of the guys, it is hard to say not the best, of our sport.” Continuing, he noted that the NextGen car further pushes them to race in tight quarters by making it hard to make passes. End of the day, Hamlin underlines that Larson and he are just two guys who don’t want to let the other pass.
