NASCAR’s former crew chief Steve Letarte made no bones about where he stood on Denny Hamlin’s controversial run at Kansas. While Hamlin muscled his way from the front row, swept both opening stages, and led 159 of 273 laps in pursuit of win No. 60, his late-race clash with Bubba Wallace drew sharp criticism.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. argued Hamlin could have gone for the jugular without jeopardizing another Toyota’s race, but Letarte, much like Kyle Petty, bluntly applauded the No. 11 driver’s competitive edge.
On Inside the Race, when asked about the criticism that Hamlin cost both himself and Wallace a shot at victory, Letarte doubled down.
“Well, yeah, because you’re on board with driver Denny Hamlin. You’re not on board with team owner Denny Hamlin right here. When he puts his fire suit on, he’s a race car driver, and he drove down in there, and yeah, he ran the 23 up, and they got tight, and the nine gets by. You’re going to see the nine show up right here into sight. Look, I’m okay with it.”
For Letarte, the issue wasn’t murky. He pointed out that Hamlin lost control of the race after a slow pit stop, and the rest was hard racing.
“Bubba Wallace is frustrated as he should…,” Letarte said, but then added, “The day that an owner drives a car as an owner, man. That’s not good. That’s not what people buy tickets for. That’s not what people watch for. I want Denny Hamlin to drive for race win 60. And that’s what he did right there.”
Letarte insisted he replayed turns three and four several times, and each time came to the same conclusion: had Hamlin not driven that deep, Wallace likely would have cleared him on the outside.
In his eyes, there wasn’t a different path that still gave Hamlin a legitimate shot at victory. He admitted his stance might be “unpopular,” but praised Hamlin for racing like a driver chasing history rather than an owner protecting his stable.
To Letarte, Wallace’s anger was justified, being run up the track by your own boss cuts deep. But in the bigger picture, Letarte argued, that’s exactly the kind of raw, uncompromising fight fans pay to see. “Racing holds true,” he said, “the trophy mattered the most.”
