“Don’t whine…We’ve seen you do it before.” That is what Kyle Petty said in his commentary on the thrilling last lap of the Richmond race. He sided with Austin Dillon in his aggressive moves, validating them for the fascinating win. Petty called out Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano for complaining instead. Some diehard NASCAR fans also agree as they cited past moments when Hamlin had been up to no good.

However, Hamlin is not so content with this narrative. He had clearly stated his displeasure with Dillon’s bump-and-run, calling it an “egregious” flouting of the rulebook. Now he locks horns with a racing fan, bashing them for their apparently ill-founded notion.

Denny Hamlin gets into battle mode

With two laps to go at the Cook Out 400 race, Austin Dillon took a call. He chose to fight it to the end by hook or by crook. So he shoved both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin out of the way and cruised to a much-awaited victory. Logano and Hamlin bashed Dillon for his aggressive moves. Later, insiders even pressured NASCAR to make an example out of this. However, some fans do not believe Dillon’s action was “egregious” especially when considering Hamlin’s history.

Right before the checkered flag flew, Dillon nudged Hamlin in the right rear, which sent the latter into the wall. But a NASCAR fan recently posted proof on X that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver himself has indulged in such chaos. They captioned the post: “Forcing the guy up off the corner is Dennys signature move. It’s 100% what lead to him getting turned into the wall.” 

After the race, Dillon admitted that he intended to wreck Logano. But the move against Denny Hamlin was more of a reflex action, as the fan further justified Dillon. “You can’t run the “normal line” while you’re 3 wide on the bottom. Denny knew the position he was in.” But now the man himself entered this online debate. Hamlin rolled up his sleeves and fired back at this claim with a simple bash: “I think you are unwell.”

Denny Hamlin has a bit of a rough history with rivals, as the fan claims. In the famous 2023 Pocono race, he stamped himself as NASCAR’s villain with good reason. The Tricky Triangle witnessed Hamlin driving wide through Turn 2 and forcing Kyle Larson into the wall. So Dillon himself defended his moves: “I’ve seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people up the track to win…To me, I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people. It’s just part of our sport. You know what I mean?”

Although most of the community is still divided over the whole fiasco, it is excited about Denny Hamlin’s social media move.

Hamlin’s battle mode tickles fans

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Remember the social media spat in the first week of April? Denny Hamlin had criticized Speedway Motorsports’ repaving efforts at Sonoma Raceway. That invited SMI CEO Marcus Smith’s attention and escalated to a full-blown slugfest. Smith even commented on Hamlin’s lack of championship titles, offering fans a slice of entertainment to relish. Now NASCAR fans are in a similar mood, enjoying Hamlin’s defensive attitude. “GAHDAMN,” one fan exclaimed.

However, most fans took Hamlin’s side and called out the X user who cited his history. They chimed with the sentiment that Dillon overstepped his boundaries. “Denny with the W (fire emojis)” Another fan took a cruel jibe at Dillon, whose win hardly makes up for the enormous streak of poor runs. “Cook that fraud Denny!” Even Ty Gibbs’ official team page backed up Hamlin: “You are not wrong and this is not new.”

However, other fans were tickled that Denny Hamlin cannot take things lightly. Quite like his online fistfight with Smith in April, now the JGR driver is aiming his guns at a fan with an opinion. So somebody commented: “Denny Hamlin tries to not act childish challenge (impossible).” Another fan found Hamlin’s comeback hilarious and quite harmless: “mf said unwell (crying emoji)”

As the online debate rages on regarding Austin Dillon’s win, Denny Hamlin clearly would need time to process it. Let us wait and see what actions NASCAR would take to resolve the issue.