Denny Hamlin believes if Kyle Busch didn’t run out of gas on the final lap at Sonoma Raceway, Ross Chastain would’ve felt the wrath of the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
During one of the final turns in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday afternoon, Chastain and Busch were battling for position, and it looked as if Chastain simply dumped Busch, ruining the No. 8’s chance at a top-five finish. However, Hamlin isn’t willing to put all the blame on Chastain, as he believes Busch’s fuel had something to do with the altercation.
“He wasn’t running, and by what I saw, he didn’t drive in any deeper than what the No. 8 car drove in the lap before,” Hamlin said, regarding Chastain’s contact with Busch, during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast,. “That’s what I’m looking at, and what I’m also looking at is the fact that the No. 8 had stumbling issues, and was off the gas where you would normally be wide-open throttle, so I think he ran out (of gas) during that time. Which you know, it could be too, why he wasn’t ballistic. I almost quote-tweeted Bob Pockrass, when he says, when he quoted Kyle after the race and was like, you know, ‘We had a great blank blank Chevy,’ and you know, ‘We didn’t have as good of tires,’ it was straight out of a PR person’s mouth. I was going to quote-tweet and say, ‘Haha, funny Bob. What did he really say?’ Because you just knew, because everyone was thinking, ‘Oh man, Kyle’s going to lose his s— here.’
“If he didn’t run out of gas, he probably would’ve lost his s—, as he should’ve. But I think he gave a little bit of grace there, because he knew he was a sitting duck, rolling, really slow speed, in the middle of the groove, and just got ran over because of it.”
Evidently, Hamlin believes due to Chastain’s aggressive past, many fans and media members were quick to put the blame on the No. 1, but Busch’s issues were the main culprit in the incident, according to the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman.
“We can try to put it on Ross because of the reputation, and I totally understand that, and it’s warranted. But the 8 had issues,” Hamlin added. “The 8 had issues down that short shoot before Turn 4. …I think he was out of gas. I think the 8 was out of gas entering Turn 4, and the 1 was caught very off-guard by that.
“He definitely missed his mark by just a little bit and then got into the 8 there. It was just kind of a perfect bad storm.”
Alas, it remains to be seen if Kyle Busch shares the same sentiment, and we’ll find out how he races Ross Chastain in the future. Nevertheless, it was a disappointing ending to what was a really solid day for the No. 8 up until that point in Sonoma.
The post Denny Hamlin: If Kyle Busch hadn’t run out of gas, ‘he probably would’ve lost his s**t’ on Ross Chastain appeared first on On3.