While NASCAR’s 2023 extravaganza has come to an epic conclusion with the all-American manufacturer Fords taking over the world of stock car racing, in the aftermath of the chaos that unraveled in the past Friday’s Truck Series race, another hot topic is up for grabs in NASCAR nation.

It was pure carnage, with drivers wrecking the hell out of each other like it was the end of the world, a sight not at all acceptable considering the popularity of the sport. Following the chaotic race, NASCAR drivers have come out to bash the truckers for their blatant disrespect towards each other, including Joe Gibbs Racing‘s veteran Denny Hamlin.

Speaking on his popular Actions Detrimental podcast, the veteran brutally doubled down on the youngster, citing a perfect example from Dale Earnhardt Jr’s prominent CARS Tours series and mentioning how the sanctioning body needs to take charge of the situation.

Denny Hamlin goes on the offensive, brings Dale Earnhardt Jr and his CARS Tours’ example into the picture

In simple terms, the Truck Series’ championship decider in Phoenix wasn’t a good look for the sport in general. Chaos would be a mild word for describing the closing laps of the race. With the drivers throwing caution to the wind and putting on a wreck fest, the race went into triple overtime before they pushed it to the max, putting another one in the late laps.

In total, the race had 4 overtimes in Stage 3 in the closing laps. While this looked pretty thrilling on paper, it wasn’t a great look for the sport as the truckers took racing and turned into wrecking, that too on such a grand stage. Consequently, the NASCAR community hurled down their criticism as drivers and enthusiasts alike bashed the Truck Series drivers, condemning the incident.

Speaking on his podcast, Hamlin got straight to the point, bashing the truckers as he urged NASCAR to get a hold of the situation so that such future incidents don’t tarnish the sport’s image. Though Hamlin clearly understands that the drivers need to strike a balance between aggression and racing, the veteran also believes that this time they’ve taken it too far with self-policing, wrecking each other unapologetically.

He said, “It needs to be blatant and obvious, I don’t understand, there’s many instances where it is blatant and obvious, those are the ones that you make the call on. It’s a ball and strike, Jared, just like anything else.” The 23XI Racing co-owner then mentioned Dale Jr’s series, citing how they’ve got the situation under control, saying, “I mean in the CARS Tour they can officiate it, do you think they have the infrastructure NASCAR does? Okay, they’re putting blatant wrecks to the back.” 

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With his co-host asking him the question, the 42-year-old then delivered the final verdict. “There’s a cause and effect for everything, but missing a call vs. not doing anything is worse for the overall sport in the long run. This is not a joke on the series, like, we’re the top 3 series in Motorsports in the US, officiate it accordingly,” said Hamlin. 

Martin Truex Jr remains unimpressed by the Truck Series fallout in Phoenix

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Though NASCAR is known for its aggressive style of racing, the organization has always distinguished between wrecking and racing. Intentional wrecks were always shunned, irrespective of the driver and the team. However, they couldn’t foresee the impending disaster in Phoenix when the Truck Series finale turned into chaos when Carson Hocevar dumped Corey Heim with just 31 laps to go.

With Hocevar drawing the first blood, Heim, who was the favorite to win the title, came back right around, making contact for the second time. The #42 Chevy and #11 Toyota of Heim wrecked each other out. With this stunt, the field turned super-aggressive as drivers pushed each other with utter disrespect.

Reflecting on the chaotic fallout, Truex Jr said, “I was not impressed; that is not professional auto racing. It’s a joke; they need to fix it.” The 2017 Cup Series champion then fired more warning shots, saying, “Stop running into people every day and every race; I mean, you get racing a guy for the championship; you don’t just clean him out.” 

He further added, “For the most part, those guys raced like, you know, a bunch of kids that never had to pay for anything or fix anything that they’ve ever driven in their entire lives, and that’s not the way you’re supposed to drive as a professional.” 

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