Kyle Busch Conflicted Between a “Rule Guy” and a Racer as He Tries to Justify Denny Hamlin’s Richmond Finish

Denny Hamlin’s borderline illegal tactics at Richmond Raceway are still dominating the talk of the town. The NASCAR community is divided into people who are outright labeling him a cheater and those who are dabbling midway. Veteran drivers like Kevin Harvick belong to the second batch, and Kyle Busch recently joined the crew.

There was no shortage of trouble for Busch in Richmond. Spinning and slamming the wall on lap 170, the RCR driver faced technical difficulties in his car. Recently, Denny Hamlin broached Busch’s woes on his podcast, to which Kyle Busch gave his take on his former JGR teammate’s antics in Richmond.

Kyle Busch chooses the middle ground on Hamlin’s verdict

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have a long history together on the race track. Last year at the World Wide Technology Raceway in June, they finished 1-2 in the Cup race. After the 11th and final yellow flag was waved, Busch got a big push from Hamlin on the final restart. That eventually helped him steer to his third win of the season. 

So Busch knows Hamlin’s racing tactics well, as he analyzed the Richmond fiasco with meticulous detail recently. Talking to Kenny Wallace, he said: “Those guys are all still trying to edge up and get that half-a-mile-an-hour advantage, to just when Denny accelerates, they can accelerate…Denny is very smart. He is very calculated, he understands a lot of things very well. He is probably looking in his mirror or looking in his rear view screen, and seeing this happening around him. So he wants to go early to put those guys back on their heels. I believe that’s what he did”.

Kyle Busch further validated Hamlin’s stance in the race. “If you’re the leader and you’re in that position, what are you supposed to do? If Denny just sits there and waits till the end of the restart zone, the more you wait, the more those guys know you’re going to go. Because the flag man is gonna throw the green flag by the time you get to the second line.”

But then Busch circled back to a more neutral tone, stressing the need for officials to follow the rules. “So I don’t know, rules are rules. If I’m a rule guy, and everybody wants to go by black and white, then you gotta call it, you gotta penalize the guy.” NASCAR officials chose to let Denny off the hook, citing both a lack of time and a lack of certainty as reasons.

Although Kyle Busch is confused about whether to sanction Hamlin’s actions or not, he likes the latter’s villain status.

Hamlin’s villainous character ‘fun to watch’ for Kyle Busch

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If you dial back a few years, Kyle Busch was well-known as NASCAR’s villain. He mainly inherited that title from his brother Kurt Busch, who made a lot of enemies in the sport. But when Kyle Busch shifted to RCR in 2023, the boos turned into cheers for him. Busch noticed that fans directed their boos to another driver, and this development tickled Busch.

He admitted it was “fun to watch” Denny Hamlin win the villain title. He further said: “When you’re in that spot like I was, and I guess Denny is, you’ve got to do what Denny is doing. I mean it’s perfect. You’ve got to play with it and just go with it and roll with it. I did.”

Clearly, Kyle Busch is at peace with Hamlin’s tactics, even though it’s a totally different scenario with the latter’s JGR teammate, Christopher Bell.

Read More: Christopher Bell Breathes a Sigh of Relief as He Calls In Peace With Kyle Busch After COTA Fallout