Denny Hamlin emerged victorious at the end of the Pocono race for a milestone 50th win in the Cup Series. However, his win was met with a lot of boos instead of congratulatory cheers, mostly because of how things went down with seven laps to go in the race. Hamlin made a rather controversial move on Kyle Larson which did help him in his chance to win, but also ruined Larson’s entire weekend.
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Following the race, Larson showcased his frustration regarding the incident, mentioning how it was reminiscent of what Hamlin did to Ross Chastain a year prior. Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectrum, after hearing what Larson had to say, Hamlin reacted to the comment with his own set of comebacks.
Denny Hamlin gives his take after hearing Kyle Larson’s comments
Speaking at the press conference, Hamlin was told that Larson had brought up the Ross Chastain reference from last year and expressed that Hamlin did the same thing to him. Hamlin seemed to have been prepared with a comeback, stating, “Same move he made to Bubba? Did he mention that or no?” There was a brief moment of silence before Hamlin nodded his head and said, “Gotcha.”
On being asked if he should have given more respect to Larson, a visibly frustrated Hamlin replied, “We are racing for the win, are we?” The room burst out in laughter and Hamlin continued, “For sure. I mean if I am gonna give anyone in the field respect it’s Kyle Larson. Just because of our, you know I respect him as a racecar driver and I think he’s probably the best. So certainly he’s got my respect. But damn! We are all racing for winning. I guarantee you roles reversed, it goes the same way.”
Denny Hamlin responds to Kyle Larson saying that the move was like the one Hamlin pulled on Ross Chastain last year at Pocono and he (Larson) didn’t deserve to be raced that way. pic.twitter.com/MiWi9t7Z3q
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 24, 2023
Furthermore, he also justified his move by adding, “He’s ran me off a bunch of road courses and called me and said sorry and I said I’m gonna stand my ground next time. I don’t I’m not here to defend anything. I put both of those guys #48 and the #5 in an aero situation. Didn’t touch either one. How can you wreck someone you don’t touch? They make a decision to either let off the gas and race side by side or hit the gas and hit the wall.”
Did Kyle Larson pull a similar move on Bubba Wallace last year?
While Larson is out there stating that Hamlin raced him the same way as the JGR driver raced the watermelon man from a year prior, going down memory lane to Las Vegas just last year, Larson too had run 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace into the wall. Although, the way Wallace reacted to that, later on, was totally off the charts and disrespectful. But the similarity between the moves is exactly what Hamlin seems to be puzzled about.
Back at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway race, Larson was racing Wallace hard down the inside. The HMS driver then squeezed Wallace right into the wall after the corner exit, something very similar to what Hamlin did to Larson and Chastain at Pocono.
