Denny Hamlin finished 7th at the 2024 Southern 500. That’s not too bad considering he started 14th and finished 6th and 3rd in both stages, respectively. Then while running top-10 in Stage 3, he narrowly avoided disaster with 26 laps to go, when some three-wide racing on Turn 1 brought out the penultimate caution of the race. This is where it all changed for names like Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry, and Noah Gragson, as The Lady in Black ensnared them in a multi-car wreck alongside five others.

Although Wallace did not end his race on a DNF, neither of those three has even a hypothetical chance at making the playoffs because of this incident. That means 23XI Racing will only have one car in the Round of 16 opener at Atlanta, which results in the team losing out on nearly $2 million in charter payout at the end of the year. Interestingly, co-owner Denny Hamlin, who avoided the wreck, might have inadvertently played a role in these detrimental consequences. But, in his eyes, it was Josh Berry’s aggressive actions that were the catalyst for disaster.

Denny Hamlin blames Berry, as Bubba Wallace finds himself in the crossfire

Only days after being issued an L2 penalty, which knocked him out of contention for the regular season championship, Hamlin was eager to prove his haters wrong at Darlington, maybe even claim a few playoff points while he was at it. Instead, he witnessed his #45 driver win the regular season championship, while the other limped home to a 16th-place finish after starting his race in the pole position. Some would remember that the #23 also finished inside the top 10 in both stages. So what happened to Bubba Wallace and his team?

Well, on ‘Lap 345’ of 367, the biggest wreck of the night struck when Josh Berry attempted to tame Darlington with an audacious move. Shooting for a top-5 position on the middle line with Ty Gibbs‘ #54 on the outside and Denny Hamlin’s #11 on the inside, there was Berry, three-wide, heading into Turn 1 at Darlington, a move that has proven treacherous multiple times in the past. And there was contact! Berry lost control and slid up the track into the #54. During the ensuing commotion, Wallace was running behind William Byron’s #24 on the outside line. As Berry’s car finally came to a halt facing the other side on the top of the racetrack, Byron rammed into its nose with nowhere for Wallace to escape. The #23 got caught up on Byron’s bumper, and then Noah Gragson came in for a hard hit from the rear.

Gragson, Berry, and Byron ended their races early. But Bubba Wallace was hungry for that spot on the bubble. Hence, he recovered, but a sixteenth-place finish was all that he could salvage. Regardless, Michael Jordan was happy for both his drivers. But Hamlin’s involvement in the big one warranted his co-host Jared Allen to ask him on the Sept 2 episode of Actions Detrimental: “Did you cause the wreck on lap 345?” With an air of assurance, the #11 driver answered, “I don’t know about that.”

“I was looking at it, I’m watching and I get underneath the #54 (of Gibbs) in three and four,” he began. “And I saw this interview where he was kind of upset. He was like, ‘Yeah, we almost got wrecked over there and then we ended up getting wrecked over there.’ I’m not sure he knew that we were three wide.” Taking it back to when Chase Briscoe passed Kyle Larson for the lead one last time, Hamlin outlined his perspective from only a few cars behind.

“So [the #45] is up at the wall, with the #1, and then they start coming on the exit, and they just pull down… When he pulled down we make contact, and I’m like, ‘I don’t want any parts of this.’ So I back out. I hit the brake. And then here comes the #4 (Josh Berry). I try to block the #4 from going three-wide bottom because I don’t want to put anyone in a bad spot. He goes through the middle, and then I’m on the apron. You know, I’m running as low as I can, and then I think me and the #4 got pretty close.” Hamlin told Allen, “I’m not sure if there was contact or not. The #4 just kind of washed right up into the #54.”

Basing his argument on the constricted real estate around Turn 1 at Darlington, he then declared, “Three-wide, entering turn one at Darlington? Good luck.” In the end, Hamlin concluded, “You know, it’s just not ideal and I think the #4 actually wiped out someone else earlier that same way where he slid up into somebody and put him in the fence. I can’t remember what car it was.” It was the car of Christopher Bell that Berry pushed to the fence nearly ten laps from the Stage 3 restart. Both drivers were running in the third row, trying to outrace each other when the incident in question took place. Bell recovered to score another third-place finish at the end of it all. 

So, is Denny Hamlin calling out Josh Berry for his aggressive driving? Quite the contrary. For that matter, it seemed like Hamlin just wanted to make it clear to Ty Gibbs that the wreck that forced him into the Round of 16 as only the last driver on the bubble was not his fault at all.

10 weeks to chase a win and redemption

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On the surface level, Denny believes, the entire issue was “certainly not ideal,” and he was just glad “the #54 ended up getting in.” Finally, providing the decisive answer to Allen’s question, Denny declared, “But no, I was looking at it and I was running the middle of the track. And (Berry) just came on down and we barely clipped left rear, and then that put us three-wide when I checked up… There was just not enough room between all three of us.” 

Gibbs, understandably upset by these fortunes post-race, believed he could’ve got out of the way. But in his words, “things got random, really. I’d say dirty right there.” Regardless, both he and Hamlin now have a guaranteed shot at the 2024 Cup Series championship, alongside 14 other confirmed contenders. So, it would make little sense to hold any grudges.

As for Josh Berry? This is what he told the media after his race at Darlington: “Tough way to end such a promising day. We had a great No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse and we were going to net out to have a good points day, and it was just one of those nights that you look back on in frustration because this team deserves better.” Determined for a better result, hopefully, similar to his teammate, Chase Briscoe, he wrapped up his address, stating, “Our results don’t do us justice and tonight was one of those nights. We have 10 weeks to go chase a win”

After 10 weeks and beyond, until any immediate re-adjustments, Josh Berry will drive the Wood Brothers #21 Ford. Consequently, Hamlin and Ty Gibbs will see Berry’s current teammate, Chase Briscoe, driving the #19 car at Joe Gibbs Racing, as Martin Truex Jr’s replacement. Some interesting times lie ahead for all the parties involved starting in 2025. But will Ty Gibbs’ unrest play any role in Denny Hamlin’s advances for the next ten Sundays, or vice versa?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.