Kyle Larson won the revered race at Indianapolis. But it was a rather bittersweet moment for him since the tag of “favoritism” and him being a “golden boy” soon followed after the finish. Everyone, from veterans and fans, was quick to point out the decision NASCAR took and questioned the race’s legitimacy and Larson’s win. And in this hour of darkness, the only loud voice who took a stand for Larson is someone even the HMS driver wouldn’t have imagined: Denny Hamlin. 

The person who everyone pitched as Larson’s No. 1 “rival” came out in support of him. And Hamlin, being himself, didn’t mince a word and voiced his opinion on the entire controversy debacle.

Denny Hamlin weighs in on the Larson-Indianapolis restart debate

The Indianapolis race was back after three years, and it was meant to create a buzz, and it did — except not quite like NASCAR expected. It all started when Brad Keselowski pitted after running out of fuel. This is when NASCAR decided not to re-rack, and it turned out to be game-changing for both Ryan Blaney and Larson. Just in different contexts – the bad kind for Blaney and the good kind for Larson.

Larson (who was running in third) ended up taking Keselowski’s position on the restart and most claim that he then jumped the restart – this became a huge topic of controversy. Because NASCAR didn’t stop the race, they continued. Discussing this on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin mentioned that he didn’t think the HMS driver jumped the start. He analyzed the SMT data and said, “I’m looking at this restart right now. They fire absolutely at the same time… He went and gassed it up to get even with the 12 right away, then he backed off, then he rolled a little bit of speed.”

“When I say a little bit, it’s like a mile per hour the entire time he just kept creeping, creeping, creeping, and then they fired at the same time,” Hamlin continued. “And then what happened was since they fired at the same time, Kyle’s got that one-mile-per-hour advantage the whole time.”

But Denny Hamlin also explained that it wouldn’t have mattered because even if Blaney had been ahead of Larson entering Turn 1, the No. 5 driver would’ve overtaken him since he had the bottom line. And Indianapolis is one such track where being on the bottom is such an advantage. No wonder Blaney seemed to be hauling harsh words at the radio when Larson took that position. He said, “There’s no way they should’ve let that go green. That’s ridiculous. They just gave it to [Larson]. It’s f*cking over, I’m on the top. I ain’t gonna win from the top. Gave it to f*cking golden boy. Son of a b*tch.”

While Ryan Blaney may have felt he got hard done by Larson and NASCAR, someone else seemed to have agreed with Denny Hamlin’s verdict about the restart. Kevin Harvick said on his Happy Hour podcast, “The restart was tight. I went back and watched it a couple of times. I don’t see anything I would call a penalty or Larson jumping the start.” Echoing Hamlin’s suggestion of the two drivers starting at the same time, the veteran added, “I think they just took off about the same time, and he just beat Blaney through the gears.”

As for Larson, it “just kinda worked out” for him. Running the same color scheme he was meant to at the Coca-Cola 600 while attempting The Double, he felt that winning in Indianapolis was “meant to be.” And although there were more controversial aspects to the win, at least we know that Kyle Larson didn’t jump the restart. Speaking of controversies, while Denny Hamlin acquitted his rival of any wrongdoing, he didn’t hold back when criticizing NASCAR’s final-lap actions (or, rather, non-actions).

Hamlin called out Elton Sawyer on the late caution

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Denny Hamlin strongly disagreed with NASCAR’s decision not to waive the yellow caution flag any sooner at the Indianapolis race. Ryan Preece collided with Chase Elliott on the last lap, and despite being unable to fire up the car and stranded on the track, NASCAR didn’t fire a caution flag. Only after Larson won the race did the yellow flag come out, but it was too late. This led to a major controversy, with Brad Keselowski humorously voicing his opinion: “Hahahaha, that’s a caution any other week.”

Elton Sawyer had to clarify why they decided not to call a caution any sooner. He said, “We did everything we possibly could. We kept an eye on the 41. He got turned around. He was really giving a solid effort and once he came to a stop and we could tell that he had, I think, a flat left-rear tire, he wasn’t going to move. We’d already taken the white; we just couldn’t run by there again. So it was unfortunate, but it was the right call.”

But Denny Hamlin, sitting in his bus at the time and watching the race, knew it should’ve been a caution. He said, “I was like, ‘This is going to be a caution. There’s a caution.’ Because he stopped. And Elton Sawyer says, ‘Well, by the time that we saw that the 41 was not able to move, we had already crossed the start/finish line.’ Wrong. That’s not true. They had roughly eight seconds to make a call there, and they didn’t.”

The JGR driver also talked about the favoritism angle. He said, “Some of the calls I thought were just super questionable when it comes to whether they did the caution in the end or not.” What do you think? Did NASCAR favor Larson? Let us know.