Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace might be good friends now but it did not start well between the two NASCAR Cup Series competitors. The now 30-year-old 23XI Racing driver made his full-time Cup debut in 2018 and in the very first race, there was an altercation between himself and Hamlin.
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Both drivers were door-to-door as they crossed the season-opening 2018 Daytona 500 with the former crossing the line ahead of the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran first and claiming P2. While Austin Dillon claimed the top spot and Hamlin settled for P3, there was some back and forth between the two on text in the days following the race.
Bubba Wallace had himself a day. But he had some thoughts on that finish with Denny Hamlin. 👀 pic.twitter.com/ls2A2boiCc
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) February 19, 2018
Surprisingly, this was mostly kept out of the public eye. However, things came to a boiling point at the Atlanta race that year where the two confronted each other again. Things reportedly got physical between them in the motorhome and it made for a chaotic situation behind the scenes. Both Hamlin and Wallace have unapologetic personalities, explaining their clash to an extent.
“It all boiled over in Atlanta. There was just some simple texts exchanged that somewhat fired me up. The challenge was brought to me that, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ … ‘OK, I’ll be right over.’ What happened after that is history, but I felt like we almost needed to get that out of our system at some point,” the #11 driver told The Athletic.
Things have calmed down between the two as Wallace now drives a team co-owned by Hamlin himself. The #23 driver has been running quite well as of late and is hoping to make it to the playoffs this year. He sits three points ahead of the cutline and will be looking to widen the advantage during the upcoming races.
Altercations don’t always mean a poor relationship, explains Hamlin
Hamlin used this incident as an example to state that things can be fine between drivers even if they don’t get off on the right foot. For a couple of aggressive racers like Wallace and Hamlin, it was certainly impressive that they made their peace and are now working together. The 30-year-old has been a fantastic signing for 23XI Racing camp and he seemingly has no intention of leaving any time soon.
“This is proof that even when you may have differences with someone in the short term, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get over it and have a good relationship with that person in the long run,” Hamlin explained in a text after the interview.
Despite being a driver for Hamlin’s team, Wallace does not let up if he’s racing the #11 on track. The duo share a strong relationship in NASCAR’s current day, racing hard and with respect.
