It has been a rollercoaster of a race weekend for Joey Logano at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. During qualifying, he experienced the thrill of sitting on the front row alongside Michael McDowell. Unfortunately, his day came crashing down, owing to a pre-race penalty that relegated him to the back of the pack. It only got worse for the #22 driver, as he was involved in a wreck in the closing laps of Stage 2. That wreck involved Chris Buescher and Denny Hamlin, who pretty much had nowhere to go and vented his frustrations.
It all began when Logano was defending from Buescher, while Denny Hamlin was just a case of the aftermath of the contact as he was a bit further behind. Just then, Logano moved up from the inside lane to block but collided with Buescher, turning to the JGR No. 11, as he was a touch too close to take action. And Hamlin, being Hamlin, had some wise reactions in return.
Denny Hamlin had an up-and-down race until this incident
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In all, it was a fairly aggressive race, with a caution coming as early as the opening lap. Denny Hamlin managed to avoid most of the shenanigans, but he did spin after getting tagged by Kyle Busch. The good news was that he didn’t sustain too much damage, and was able to claw his way back up the pack and be in contention for the win.
However, coming back to Logano and Hamlin. They have been rivals for a while, and the former has a bit of a reputation for being aggressive. So it is no surprise that both of them have had run-ins throughout their career. Needless to say, Denny Hamlin was not pleased when he yelled on the radio, “F*** me! Every god d*** time!“. But that wasn’t all.
"F*** me! Every God damn time!"
Denny Hamlin
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) February 25, 2024
Hamlin took a subtle dig at Logano while detailing the stage 2 incident that led to him tangled in the wreck. Hamlin said, “Moving on, so the other wreck, the #22(Joey Logano) pulled a late block on the #17(Chris Buescher) on the last lap and freaking wrecked himself the #17 and me and I was top 5 again, coming into the end of the stage and got nothing out of it.”
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Hamilton further added, “The #22 was trying to block the #17, the #17 was getting to the outside of the #22 and he just came right up like…it’s just the end of the stage fellas, you just going to lose a spot may be the #17 aint going to clear you if he gets to your outside, you’re not fighting for the stage win by the way, you’re fighting for like fourth or fifth.” However, Hamlin can still take away something from his experience at Atlanta.
The JGR driver can still take comfort in one thing
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Considering how miserable the Atlanta race was, at least Denny Hamlin knew that he drew his first blood in 2024. To be precise, he snatched victory in the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. Admittedly, this win does not count towards the championship, but it does give the No. 11 some confidence for the upcoming season. At the Daytona 500, he finished back at the pack P19, which was a bit disappointing, but he had some great pace.
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Read more: Amid Widespread Backlash, Denny Hamlin Makes an Upsetting Verdict About Atlanta
The same was true at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, so it was just bad luck that he was caught up in so many incidents. Now all that Denny Hamlin can do is find out what went wrong, strategize for future races, and train his focus accordingly.