Denny Hamlin Potentially Feeling ‘Threatened’ by Ford’s Resurgence as RFK Racing Dominates the Pack

In the first 12 races of the season, it was mostly Chevrolet [7 wins] and Toyota [5 wins], out of which Denny Hamlin alone bagged 3 and dominated the tracks, leaving Ford in the dust with 0 wins until Darlington. At the Goodyear 400, Brad Keselowski showed who’s the leader with Ford’s first win. His No. 17 driver, Chris Buescher, also put in a commendable effort. Now, after Ford gave a great show this past weekend, the Cup Series standings welcome more Fords in the Top 12. 

Brad Keselowski had been performing well since last year, though he hadn’t managed to secure a win until now. If the RFK Racing co-owner can maintain this momentum, he can be laddering up the standings real soon and be a serious threat to Chevys and Toyotas. However, Denny Hamlin doesn’t seem to consider him a threat just yet.

Denny Hamlin gave props to the whole #6 RFK team for their win

Last week, Kevin Harvick mentioned that some Fords brought either a new or upgraded engine to Kansas. Chris Buescher had his best race of the year, finishing a hair’s breadth behind the winner and even winning a stage. On the other side, Noah Gragson from Stewart-Haas qualified third and finished ninth. Plus, Brad Keselowski wasn’t far behind, finishing P11. 

With Buescher consistently driving at the top and Keselowski clinching a victory, clearly, the changes to the car are making a big difference. Ford cars are making a strong comeback, which should ideally make Denny Hamlin and other Toyota and Chevy drivers a bit nervous.

However, Denny Hamlin seems to be far from getting threatened by these things, “I think uh without a doubt this is a huge win for the organization for Brad. He’s you know getting towards my era of age and so you know you’re going to want to continue to stack up the wins. […] They had some better you know had some good finishes between Richmond of last year and now I just I never really saw them as a big threat to win the race until they showed the speed that they did this weekend.”

Furthermore, Hamlin also gave props to Brad Keselowski’s team for staying patient and not putting extra pressure on the driver despite having over 100 races in drought. He noted that the team executed flawlessly, stayed up front the entire race, and let the driver do his thing when it mattered most. The pit crew kept them in the game, leading to an amazing win for the whole #6 team.

However, while Hamlin applauded the #6 team and Co. for breaking their 110-race winless streak, he didn’t hesitate to choose Tyler Reddick over Brad Keselowski, throwing the latter under the bus to protect his own driver.

23XI Racing’s boss suggests Brad Keselowski played a role in the wreck that abruptly ended Chris Buescher’s race

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The #45 driver of 23XI Racing seemed to have the Darlington race well in hand, leading for 174 laps. However, a late-race tangle with RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher pushed both out of contention. During the chaos, Brad Keselowski slipped past to clinch the victory, snapping his 110-race winless streak. Denny Hamlin, however, recently took to his podcast to hint that Keselowski might have been the culprit.

Although Hamlin recognized that Tyler Reddick took a risky approach by closing in on Chris Buescher, he speculated that Keselowski’s nudge may have been the main reason behind sparking Reddick’s aggressive maneuver. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver commented, “I think it [the contact between Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski] certainly put him on tilt I think that it definitely probably played a factor in his give-a-damn being busted. Yeah! More than likely!”

So, what’s your take? Was Brad Keselowski really behind the pivotal wreck in the final laps, or is Hamlin just shielding his driver from NASCAR fans’ potential backlash?