Yesterday’s Coca-Cola 600 was quite a race.
After the NASCAR Cup Series race was postponed Sunday because rain fell over Charlotte Motor Speedway for two days straight, it finally got underway on Monday afternoon around 3pmET, and there was no shortage of action on the track.
Notably, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott were racing hard for 7th place with 15 laps to go in the second stage when the two made contact coming out of turn four and Elliott hit the outside wall.
But as the two headed for the start/finish line, Elliott seemingly retaliated against Hamlin and hooked him in the right rear, sending Hamlin’s car spinning hard into the wall and ending both of their days before the race reached the halfway point.
The ever-outspoken Denny was of course very upset that his day was over, saying over the radio to his team:
“F*cking bullsh*t. They need to park his f*cking a*s.”
Chase later denied that the contact was intentional when he was asked whether it was retaliation, and said that his car was impossible to drive after getting into the fence:
“Once you hit the wall in these things you can’t drive them anymore, so unfortunately not, no. Just an unfortunate circumstance.”
And while we’re still waiting on an official ruling from NASCAR in terms of whether or not Chase will be allowed to race next weekend, Denny took to Twitter last night with receipts to share internal data from the wreck, saying it was “an abolsute left hook” based on the numbers:
Absolute left hook. Cranked the wheel 4X harder left than he did making any corner through the whole day. Bullsh*t move. pic.twitter.com/6DylWjKyVu
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 29, 2023
And this morning, he has a very clear and lengthy explanation of why he believes Chase should be parked during this weekends 2023 Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.
On a brand new episode of Denny’s Action’s Detrimental podcast, he explained that there’s no getting around the fact that it was an intentional move by Chase Elliott:
“There’s no explanation he could possibly give, which he didn’t, of a reason for hanging a left. You know, he obviously didn’t wanna admit it, he did the ‘Ah, I can’t hear ya, sorry. Sorry I can’t hear what you’re saying, but yeah, my car, I just couldn’t drive it.’
Bullsh*t. The f*cking wheels were dead straight, even after we crashed and destroyed our sh*t. He goes down the back straightaway, and you look at both front tires are pointed the correct direction.
And I pointed out in the data that I tweeted that once he got into the wall, there was nothing wrong with his car. He turned the wheel back straight, like he was going down the straightaway, and you can tell by data whether you’ve got toe length damage or not.
So you can tell that basically, if your line is skewed one direction or another where you have to turn it left, turn it right whether you’ve bent a toe link or done significant damage.”
He continued, saying that everyone gets into the wall at times, and Chase threw a “hissy fit” by retaliating in that way.
Denny also doubled down on saying Chase “shouldn’t be racing this weekend” due to precedent from a similar wreck last year involving other drivers:
“For God sakes, Tyler Reddick pounded the wall twice as hard as he did and didn’t hurt his car. Everyone hits the wall.
But he threw a hissy fit, and he just hung a left on us in the most dangerous part of the race track that you possibly could, and it ended my day and his.
And in my opinion, he shouldn’t be racing next weekend, because NASCAR set a precedent last year on this.”
Last year, NASCAR suspended Bubba Wallace for one race after he wrecked Kyle Larson with a right hook in very similar fashion to what happened yesterday.
You can watch Denny’s full comments here:
Of course, there are plenty of mixed opinions on what went down and if it was intentional, with many on board with Denny in believing Chase should be suspended, and some saying that Denny had been running Chase into the wall the whole time and it was warranted that he retaliate.
We should know in the next day or two at the most what NASCAR’s decision is, but according to FOX report Bob Pockrass, they will likely give a waiver to the suspended driver in order for them to remain eligible for a championship at the end of the season:
