Denny Hamlin was unbothered by fans at Pocono Raceway booing him after he crossed the checkered line as the winner of Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400.
“I got booed after I got wrecked at Martinsville,” Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday. “I got wrecked. There’s not subjectivity there. It’s not the fans are right because they’re booing. No, they just have a different lens because they’re fans. And if they’re fans of someone, or not fans of me, you’re gonna have a reaction. I mean, listen to it. Fans are loyal. And NASCAR fans are more loyal than any. I just take it with a grain of salt, like, the intros — I get booed the most by far in intros, and before the race, I haven’t done anything.”
Hamlin became the most unpopular man in Long Pond, Pa., after he appeared to run Kyle Larson into the wall with seven laps remaining to take the lead and secure his 50th career Cup Series victory. Hamlin, however, insisted he didn’t make contact with Larson as he executed the pass.
“I still contest we did not touch,” Hamlin said. “I know it looks like it, but there’s not a ding on the car, not a scratch nowhere on the right side. So from where I was sitting on the left, I mean, I could not, if it was contact, I certainly didn’t feel it. It was so small that I certainly didn’t feel it in the car. I saw the flaps go up, which happens whenever you get some low pressure, I guess there’s high pressure underneath the hood, which happens when you do get close to each other.”
Kyle Larson ‘pi--ed’ after being run into wall by Denny Hamlin
Larson, who raced his No. 5 Chevy to a P5 finish, felt differently. Both drivers, who share a mutual friendship, are certainly seeing it tested based on the incident at Pocono. While Larson maintained he’d remain friends with Hamlin, he didn’t hide how “pi--ed” he was at the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
"I’ve been cost a lot of good finishes by him throughout my career,” Larson said after the race. “And I know he says that I race a certain way, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to apologize to him about anything. Not that I’m sure he’ll say ‘I’m sorry’ after this, but it is what it is. Just move on and try to go to Richmond, where we won earlier this year. It is what it is. Yeah, we’re friends. Yes, this makes things awkward. But he’s always right. All the buddies know Denny’s always right. It is what it is. I’m not gonna let it tarnish our friendship off track. But I am pi--ed, and I feel like I should be pi--ed.
“I think at this point I have the right. Like I’ve said, I’ve never had to apologize to him about anything I’ve done on the race track. I can count four or five times where he’s had to reach out to me and say, ‘Sorry I’ve put you in a bad spot there.’ So eventually, like he says, you have to start racing people a certain way to get the respect back.”
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