Denny Hamlin did a deep dive into the crash at the NASCAR All-Star Race that involved Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch.On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin described the difference in driving styles between the two NASCAR stars who got into a fight after the race.
“It was just a clashing of styles,” Hamlin said. When it comes to Stenhouse, Hamlin stated, “He is the first to push it right on Lap 1. I just don’t know that you are going to win the race or even finish, guarantee yourself a top 10 or 15 finish by shoving it in places that are high-risk situations.”
Stenhouse made the aggressive move on the second lap, and Busch didn’t like it because he thought that he hit him. When talking about Busch, Hamlin said that Stenhouse’s move “Rubbed him wrong not only emotionally but physically. He rubbed him wrong because he got into the wall in Turn 2.”
Hamlin knows that Stenhouse’s style can lead to consequences, which is what we saw on Sunday. He also talked about how the fight went down and revealed if Stenhouse or Busch was right.
“This is difficult. This is one of those difficult positions that I find myself in. Because I try not to pick sides, but I’ll call it how I see it,” Hamlin started. “Let’s go back to the on-track stuff. I see both sides, however, my driving style supports a little more of Kyle’s side, because I believe that there are times where Ricky finds himself in these situations, because he puts himself in these situations.
Denny Hamlin has more thoughts on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Kyle Busch fight
“It is Lap 1. Did he shove through the middle of us? Yes. Did I have a problem with it? I did not. It is the All-Star Race. We just talked about it earlier. The drivers, you kind of understand that there’s a little bit more aggressiveness going on in this type of race. So I see Kyle’s side of it, ‘Dude, you shoved middle on a short-track on Lap 1. Like, where are you going?’ I see that part. I understand.”
Hamlin continued: “However, the counter to that is that I see Ricky’s side saying, ‘Dude, I never touched you until you hit the wall.’ Now, I think contact was inevitable, because there wasn’t enough room for Kyle, no matter what. Ricky did put him in a position where Kyle was going to have to lift, and if he did not lift, the contact was going to happen. Kyle didn’t lift, or he tried to lift, but it was too late. The No. 47 was already coming up. I knew we were three-wide. I left plenty of room on the bottom. I am no part of this drama whatsoever, I’ve got no part in it. … The contact was inevitable, because there was not enough room left for Kyle on the high-side of the race track.”
On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this story.
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