Two back-to-back playoff weekends, and Denny Hamlin cannot steer clear of controversy. In New Hampshire, after his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Ty Gibbs, raced him hard, he put the youngster in the wall. And now, in Kansas, it is his own driver, Bubba Wallace, who ended up against the outside wall after being wrecked by Hamlin.
While Gibbs wasn’t part of the playoffs and was kind of asking for what he got, Hamlin was let off easy by the NASCAR community on that. But that doesn’t seem to be the case in the Wallace incident, as a fan called the NASCAR veteran out, prompting Hamlin to issue a response.
How Did Denny Hamlin Hit Back at a Fan’s Harsh Criticism?
In Kansas, Hamlin was having his dream run. He started from P2, won both stages, and led 159 laps. However, that’s when things started going haywire. First, his throttle got stuck, then he lost his power steering, but he still somehow managed to keep the lead. However, a slow pit stop derailed it with 12 laps to go in the race. He dropped from 1st to 6th on the final restart of the race.
Wallace and Christopher Bell were fighting for the lead there, which the #23 driver eventually took. At that time, Hamlin charged through the bottom lane and challenged Wallace’s lead. However, since the #11 driver did not have power steering, he could not stay clear of Wallace on the final turn and put him into the wall. This got both the cars loose, allowing Chase Elliott to sneak past and take the win.
What could have been a picture-perfect finish for Toyota ended up being a Chevy win, with four Toyotas behind it in the top 5. Hamlin ended in P2, Bell took P3, Chase Briscoe was P4, and Wallace ended up P5. From Hamlin’s point of view, he could not help how things unfolded, thanks to the power steering issue. But for Wallace, it wrecked his playoff chances.
This is what had one fan call Hamlin out, writing, “I know a lot will bring up on how Bubba and Bell raced and how Denny raced Bubba are the same and while I understand that, I think what Denny did was more careless. With no power steering I feel like Denny drove it in with the mindset of ‘if he’s in the wall, so be it.’ Not only did he take himself out, he took out his driver and possibly a shot at any 23XI driver in the R8 and gave the win to a Chevy. Not smart.”
Hamlin did not take too kindly to this criticism. He asked the fan and the entire NASCAR community to cut him slack: “Give me a break. I was off the gas and on the brakes 100yds before the 23 let off. I was turning as hard as I could given the aero situation. 11 team deserved that race. It didn’t work out.”
But this doesn’t help Wallace’s cause, who was in the perfect position to continue his playoff campaign, but now faces the threat of elimination. Naturally, he was bummed out calling Hamlin a “douche.” After the race, Wallace said, “Two years ago, I’d probably say something dumb. He’s a dumbass for that move, for sure. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win.”
Entering the race, Wallace was 27 points below the cutline in a must-win race. Which he probably would have won had Hamlin not wrecked him. Wallace could have secured a place in the top 8 for Hamlin’s 23XI Racing. Which now seems unlikely. Given that Charlotte Roval is the eliminator, and that both 23XI playoff drivers are in the elimination zone. Tyler Reddick is even below Wallace with -29 points.
Hamlin could have gone easy on Wallace on that turn, or he could have helped his teammate out as well. Regardless of whether Hamlin had won or hadn’t won at Kansas, he would have still been in a good position to progress. But Wallace did not have that liberty, making this incident even trickier to judge.
