If you ask any NASCAR fan out there, who is the most notorious driver on the grid for causing incidents and always having their elbows out? You can be sure that 9 out of the 10 times the answer will be Ross Chastain. But after having a relatively clean race at Pocono, Chastain took a dig at Denny Hamlin, who won at Pocono Raceway with 7 wins while also reaching the 50th race win of his Cup Series career and the 600th race win for Toyota in NASCAR.
Chastain threw shade at Denny Hamlin for his contact with the #5 of Kyle Larson during the intense final laps of the race. However, after the race, Hamlin quickly dismissed having any contact with Larson and blamed him for not stepping off the gas when he should have, being on the outside.
Ross Chastain takes a dig at Denny Hamlin with his recent Instagram post
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After Hamlin’s 7th win at Pocono, Chastain took to Instagram and commented on how he didn’t cause any trouble. It was clearly a dig at the incident between Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson. Here’s what his post read.
“It wasn’t me. 👀”
“In all seriousness, so proud of the fight of our @teamtrackhouse @teamchevy group. We’ll take a p13 and move onto @richmondraceway. Thank you for all the amazing support, @wwexracing!”
View this post on Instagram
Speaking after the race, Larson told Frontstretch what did he make of the move Hamlin pulled on him. He spoke about how he did the same thing to Ross Chastain last year, but then Chastain probably deserved it.
“I was nervous of the move that happened because you know, he made it work uh on Ross last year. And you know he dirtied him up. And Ross deserved it last year for all those times that he got into Denny. So, uh, I felt like I deserved to be raced with respect.”
Hamlin and Larson are good friends outside of the track. However, they both shared different views of their incident during the final few laps. Larson thinks he deserved to be raced with a bit more respect, while Hamlin thought it was Larson’s fault for not stepping off the gas.
Hamlin and Larson share conflicting views on who was at fault at Pocono
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Speaking at the post-race interviews, both Hamlin and Larson were asked as to who do they think was at fault. Both were quick to brush off the blame for the incident. Denny Hamlin even went as far as to say that he didn’t even make any contact with the #5. When asked whether he raced Larson with respect, here’s what he had to say.
“We’re racing for the win. Are you shitting me?” For sure. I mean if I am going to give anyone the respect, it’s Kyle Larson, just because I respect him as a race car driver, and I think he’s probably the best. Certainly, he’s got my respect. But damn, I mean, we’re all racing for a win. I guarantee you, roles reversed, it goes the same way.”
On the flip side, Larson said that it has been many times now that Hamlin has made such moves on him and apologizes for it later on. When asked if he races any differently after many such incidents. Larson said.
“At this point, I think I have to. Like I said, I’ve never had to apologize to him about anything, anything I’ve done on the racetrack. I can count four or five times where he’s had to reach out to me, Oh, man, I am sorry I put you in a bad spot there.”
Hamlin, later on, responded to whether he touched Larson’s car at the exit. “There was a lane, He missed the corner first and, evidently, he didn’t have his right-side tires clean. When he gassed up, he just kept going again. You know, you have an option in those positions to either hold it wide open and hit the fence or lift and race it out. Those are the choices they made. I didn’t hit either one of them. Didn’t touch’em.”
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In the end, who do you think was at fault? Should Larson have lifted and survived to continue the fight? Share your thoughts in the comments.