(Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin doubled down on his move on Kyle Larson that won last week’s race at Pocono Raceway, explaining that enhanced aggression is needed in this era of the NASCAR Cup Series.
With seven laps to go at Pocono, Hamlin ran Larson deep into Turn 1 on a restart and Larson hit the wall, finishing 20th while Hamlin won the race. The two friends didn’t see eye to eye on the move, as Hamlin claimed he did what he needed to do to win while Larson felt that he got used up.
A week later, Hamlin didn’t back down.
“It’s really hard to say that you would do anything different. It is so split second,” Hamlin said in a press conference Saturday at Richmond Raceway. “The win meant so much to me at that time. So many different records that we could accomplish with that one win – with the track, with Toyota, with myself personally – it’s hard to say in that moment that I would do anything different for sure.
“Certainly, I didn’t like the outcome for him. I wish he could have finished second, but it was just one of those things where we flat ran out of room and I made a split-second decision to try to clear him instantly, and you can see from my on-board that I don’t see him. I see him go up the track, and I don’t know where he’s at when I start to throttle up and I’m saying ‘alright, I’m going to clear him.’ But when I didn’t, I knew we were going to be in a bad spot.”
In the days since the run-in, the two drivers have spoken about the incident. Hamlin preferred to keep the details of the conversation private, but said that he “thought it went good.”
Overall, Hamlin said that under the circumstances of the Next Gen car, it’s necessary to drive with more aggression.
“I think it’s just different now. The cars are closer together. Passing is more difficult than it’s ever been,” Hamlin said. “Even Mark Martin would have to adjust his style in this type of car because the days of the gentleman letting the guys go and you will just go and get them later – it’s just a different game these days. I wish we could go back to those days, but that is not where we are at. You have to adapt to where you are at. You adapt or you die.
“I feel like over the last few years, I’ve decided to be more aggressive because I’ve got used up by aggressive and it is hard to blame them at the time – especially in a race-winning situation. Certainly, you are upset when someone right rear hooks you or runs right in the back of you in Stage 1 and spins you out and puts you in the wall. That’s one thing, racing for the win is certainly a lot different than it has been in the past. If you have one person willing to be aggressive and one person not, aggressive will win every time. It’s just the facts of it.”
(Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
Hamlin attributed his several run-ins with Ross Chastain as a primary factor to his increased aggression. Last year at Gateway, Chastain tagged Hamlin in the corner and shot him into the wall, resulting in heavy damage for the No. 11 machine. A few weeks later at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chastain triggered another wreck involving Hamlin in the closing laps of the race.
Hamlin seemed to get his revenge when he ran Chastain out of room and into the wall at Pocono — a mere image of his incident with Larson — but Chastain got the last laugh after Hamlin’s race-winning car got disqualified.
This year, Chastain got into Hamlin again during the Busch Light Clash. Later in the spring at Phoenix Raceway, Hamlin admitted to crashing Hamlin during an overtime attempt and got penalized by NASCAR.
“I was very vocal that I need to do something,” Hamlin said of his history with Chastain. “At the time, the scales were like three to nothing. I was very frustrated. My team was very frustrated at me for not doing anything. The mindset has just changed. You have to put it out there that you are going to be aggressive. I think if a guy is going to run into you, you are going to run right back into him. That’s the way I’ve got to change things from this point forward because for the most part it has been tough results for us at the end of races, especially the last three years. I’ve been spun out of the lead three times. That’s really, really tough, so I just said it’s time to be more aggressive.
“Certainly, hate that it came at Kyle’s (Larson) expense, for sure. If there is anyone that I should protect, it’s those guys and my teammates. The win just met a lot to me at the time. I made an attempt to pass him, and it didn’t happen the way I intended for sure.”
(Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
But this type of racing is different from the old-school ‘boys have at it’ mantra, he said. Hamlin mentioned two incidents — Phoenix in 2012 when Jeff Gordon intentionally crashed Clint Bowyer while competing for the championship and similar circumstances in 2015 at Martinsville Speedway when Matt Kenseth intentionally crashed Joey Logano.
Hamlin, however, is a common denominator in many high-aggression racing incidents, whether he’s on the right or wrong end of it. He’s had run-ins with Chase Elliott, including an incident at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May where Hamlin similarly ran Elliott out of room before getting intentionally wrecked in the tri-oval. Hamlin’s also had previous incidents with Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, among others.
Being on the wrong end of incidents has led to this point, Hamlin said. But he’s not going to change the way he races, regardless if it’s against a friend like Larson or not.
“It is how I’m going to be. That’s for sure. I’m not going to back down,” Hamlin said. “It is not the same as it was 10 years ago. Certainly, the game has changed for sure. I think the fan should like that two people were willing to put any personal friendship aside when they go and compete on the race track on Sunday. That is when they win. They don’t want to see someone go. That is less entertaining, and we are in an entertainment business.
“I think the fans win in that instance, but it is just certainly – in me and Kyle’s instance – he’s gotten the worst end of it a few times and so I probably need to be more aware and be more cautious around him, simply because the scales are in my favor in that instance.”
