In an unexpected and very unusual event, a diehard Chase Elliott fan walked into the pits in a mood to fight Denny Hamlin. Denny stood there in awkward silence as he witnessed the Elliott fan cause a ruckus and shout at him.
The incident took place at Martinsville back in 2017, after Denny caused a collision by bumping into Chase Elliott. The Elliott fan seemed to be upset after Denny’s wreck washed away Elliot‘s hope for a win.
The fan almost got up close to the JGR driver. But thankfully, Denny’s crew and a few other individuals were successful in shoving the hothead away.
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The man’s parting words while being removed from the premises were “A dirty veteran,” after which Denny’s face looked like he was hurt by the statement.
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But regardless, assaulting a driver because a fan was “upset” is a deplorable thing to do.
NASCAR fans criticized Denny Hamlin for the 2017 Martinsville crash involving Chase Elliott
Fans, in general, were not amused by the driving of Denny Hamlin at the restart in Martinsville in 2017. They took to Twitter to express their rage against the veteran driver. People urged him to be black-flagged.
Wow. What a wild restart that ends with Chase Elliott in the wall after contact with Denny Hamlin! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/DXDHyzZBBM
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 29, 2017
@dennyhamlin didn't even use his brakes. Anyone that pulls for that garbage needs to watch wwe and stop watching nascar
— Jonathan Absher (@cpt_crazy91) October 29, 2017
I really hope @chaseelliott finds him and deletes him from competition @mattkenseth style
— Jonathan Absher (@cpt_crazy91) October 29, 2017
Black flag Hamlin, that’s cheap racing right there. They need to park him now!
— Bryan Flavin (@frugalflavin) October 29, 2017
Meanwhile, some fans took to defend Hamlin and stated that the reaction would not have been the same if it was the other way round. Some also stated that this was how racing was in Martinsville and chose not to blame any specific driver.
Nope nothing wrong with it. That's racing at Martinsville. Would you be saying the same thing if the roles were reversed?
— Steven Bailey (@StevenB_9312) October 29, 2017
Elliott did the exact same thing to Keselowski stop saying Hamlin should be suspended or whatever hard racing
— Alex Wright (@AlexWright1028) October 29, 2017
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Regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong, at the end of the day, it’s all down to racing. Things can be quite unpredictable in the world of motorsports and that’s where the fun lies.
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But in any case, running up to assault a driver because they upset a certain fanbase is never the excuse.