NASCAR has long been known as an aggressive sport. Drivers settle their grudges either by colliding 3000-plus-pound cars running at 200 mph or by elaborate fist fights post-race. Chris Buescher’s Darlington efforts were trashed when Tyler Reddick did a slide job on him. So when Buescher stomped toward Denny Hamlin’s driver with rage in his eyes, a brawl seemed to be brewing. 

However, tensions subsided when Reddick handled the situation maturely, never reacting to Buescher’s outburst. This outcome is a far cry from what Hamlin himself would have done a decade back. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver further debunked fears of payback.

Denny Hamlin feels current drivers are mellow

Hamlin is famously hailed as the black hat of NASCAR. This designation is a result of years of work. Most recently, though, Denny Hamlin’s payback wreck of Kyle Larson in the 2023 Pocono race cemented his status as a villain. This was preceded by years of conflict with other drivers. For instance, Hamlin frequently washed up against Darlington winner Brad Keselowski when they were both angry young men.

When William Byron wrecked Ryan Blaney at the Goodyear 400 race, the latter blared forth some harsh expletives over the radio. Hamlin analyzed the situation in a recent ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode: “It’s just a racing thing…The 24 was definitely the one at fault. But it’s not like he ran into someone and caused them to wreck. He just made a move that was inevitably going to end in a wreck.”

Blaney’s rage seemed most likely to convert into a post-race fight. However, akin to Buescher and Reddick’s toned-down conflict, Hamlin suspects a similar mellow attitude on Blaney’s part. Sure enough, Blaney scaled down his anger toward Byron, his brother-in-law. Denny Hamlin believes the relentless fury that he harbored in his younger days is absent in younger drivers.

Denny Hamlin explained his stance: “I don’t know…a lot of these drivers talk, and they don’t really do much in the long run…I mean, Blaney will probably just race him hard. You know, they’ll go to Charlotte, and he’ll just run on his door, and make sure he doesn’t clear. You can just make someone’s job a little bit harder, for sure.”

So according to NASCAR’s villain, neither William Byron nor Tyler Reddick is going to get payback for their mid-race drama. This may be a good thing, as Denny Hamlin learned in real time in a 2013 race.

A thin line between the acceptable and the unacceptable

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When Richard Petty and Bobby Allison locked horns in the 1970s-80s, fans loved the post-race knuckle fights. But using 3000-pound stock cars to settle scores can cost dearly. In a 2013 Richmond race, Joey Logano threw a violent block at Denny Hamlin, sending the latter’s car headfirst into the wall. As a result, Hamlin suffered a compression fracture in his back, which sidelined him for some races and docked his driver points.

This concerning incident threw into question where exactly the line is between acceptable and unacceptable retribution. Hamlin gave his insights: “As athletes, we’re nearly barbarians in our outlook, in the sense that when we feel we’ve been done wrong, our immediate reaction is to get that guy back. But ultimately, in our sport, the risk for injury is a little more. . . . All you have to battle back with is your racecar, which is tough on the race teams (who have to repair the damage) and, sometimes, the drivers.”

So the toned-down retribution tactics of current NASCAR drivers may be working well to avoid crippling accidents like Hamlin faced.