Joey Logano wasn’t too pleased with how Denny Hamlin raced him on the restart on Lap 123. The JGR driver, who was in the lead, decided to take four tires, as the rest of the leaders took two and thus found himself two rows behind the front row. As the race went green again, Hamlin got into the back of the No.22 car, and both drivers slid off the track.
Logano was fuming after he lost track position – going from fourth to eighth – and on the next caution, he made sure Hamlin knew what was coming next from him. As the pair came up together, Logano flipped the bird at the JGR star and fumed on his radio: “Got one coming, Mother******. Frickin’ drives through me into Turn 1. Where is he going?” His spotter tried to explain the root cause of what sparked the incident, but he wasn’t having any of it.
“Denny was pushing you in the corner. But the one that sent both of you up the track, Larson, ping-ponged into him,” Coleman Pressley told his driver. This rivalry between Hamlin and Kyle Larson continued from the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. While attempting to pass the #11 driver in Stage 3 last week, Larson got shoved off the line. And when his spotter said it was a result of him repeatedly letting Hamlin makes moves like that, it prompted Larson’s “shut the f*ck up” rant.
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Fast forward to this week, and it seemed like the HMS driver wanted revenge. And Denny Hamlin believed so, too, including the fact that Larson was responsible for the #11 driver’s wreck with Joey Logano. After the race, he told Bob Pockrass, “It was an eye for an eye. I ran him up the track last week, and he ran me up this week, and it’s all good. Obviously, he got into us and knocked us and the #22.” While the JGR driver believed Larson was responsible for the Logano incident, the eventual winner wasn’t ready to listen.
The driver of the No. 22 was not happy with @dennyhamlin. 😳 pic.twitter.com/ircJoRnY46
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 30, 2024
When Pressley mentioned the Larson-Hamlin battle, Logano replied, “He could’ve lifted. He drove straight into the back of me; I ain’t buying any of that.” Tempers certainly flared up at the racetrack, and somehow, Bubba Wallace also seemed to have developed a beef with the veteran JGR driver. Just before Logano could catch up with the #11 car, Wallace, running on the outside lane, bumped into his owner’s race car. Not just once, but twice!
The reason behind the aggression is not known, but it seems like Hamlin is outnumbered in terms of having friends on the track today. While most fans were awaiting Logano’s fiery response to grab all the attention, a handful of keen observers could see Wallace charging into Denny Hamlin. This certainly was a surprise for them, and they brought this incident to light with their comments on social media.
What was Bubba Wallace up to? Fans were confused to see his tussle with Denny Hamlin
During the race, Hamlin was caught up in a fiery exchange with the likes of Logano, Kyle Larson, and even Kyle Busch. But catching a glimpse of Wallace trying to get a piece of the #11 car was puzzling for this fan; “But Bubba swiping at Denny?! 👀”
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The #23 car had good speed and was running in the top half of the field until Hamlin broke through and started putting in good laps. However, there were no instances of the JGR driver running Wallace hard; therefore, his retaliation was unwarranted during the caution lap runs. Astonished to see Bubba pulling off a stunt like this, a user added, “What is Bubba doing there?”
Well, it was indeed tough to take your eyes and attention off Logano’s fiery rant. But this particular fan wasn’t going to miss out on the unreported drama, especially when there was evidence of a potential rift between the team owner and his driver: “I was paying more attention to the 23 hitting the 11 there, lol.”
Now, there was a report about Wallace being involved in a fight with Aric Almirola. However, the incident has pretty much been kept behind closed doors. Maybe it was Hamlin’s “we let JGR handle it” stance on the incident that riled up his driver to retaliate in the way he did today. Chiming in, another fan wrote, “The real question here is wtf is Bubba’s problem with the boss?”
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Denny Hamlin is considered to be the most hated driver in the modern era of NASCAR racing. But even those who aren’t a fan of the JGR driver and his racing style didn’t hesitate in calling out Wallace’s wayward and childish tantrum show: “What the f**k is bubble’s dumba** doing?”
Neither driver has spoken about the incident to the press, and they might not. But it will be interesting if Denny Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast co-host Jarred Allen brings up this incident and gets clarity from the JGR driver.