Denny Hamlin thinks Bubba Wallace ‘understood why’ Kyle Larson retaliated

Once again, Denny Hamlin is weighing in on the rivalry between Kyle Larson, his friend off the track, and Bubba Wallace, his driver on the track. These two NASCAR rivals have had their fits on the track with one another going on for a couple of years now.

This time, Kyle Larson sent Bubba Wallace spinning on the white flag lap of the Busch Light Clash. Wallace had worked his way from P19 to the top-5 when he was spun. He would be awarded with a P12 finish even though he never crossed the finish line.

At any rate, on the newest episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin talked about it. From his perspective, things don’t seem as dramatic as they may have been from a viewer’s perspective at home.

“Then you saw the Larson and Bubba [incident],” Hamlin said. “I watched Larson’s interview he’s like, ‘Well, Bubba used me up multiple times,’ he says ‘That was the third time,’ and he was like ‘I just reached the point where I’m like s**t. I don’t want to go home mad, so I’m just going to make sure I take care of this right here on the white flag lap. So he spun out Bubba, right?

“And it didn’t, I didn’t see Bubba comment on it. It seemed that he was resigned to the fact that, ‘Well I got to the 5, he had enough so he took care of me.’ So I think that they, that part of it’s fine. Larson got out of it what he needed to and Bubba probably understood why.”

For what it is worth, Bubba hasn’t said anything publicly about it. However, Larson was asked about the spin after the race. Media spoke with the top-5 finishes, and Larson simply had reached his “limit” with Wallace.

Denny Hamlin wins, rivalries new and old break out at The Clash

The Larson and Wallace stuff was just one part of The Clash. There is something about that bullring of a track at the LA Coliseum. The tight corners and physical racing lead drivers’ tempers to flare up.

Just to give a quick rundown, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into it with Michael McDowell and John Hunter Nemechek. He got out of his car during the halftime break and stuck his head into Nemechek’s car after taking the window net down.

Then you had an incident with Ross Chastain and McDowell. Chastain also put Tyler Reddick into the wall after the checkered flag.

Of course, we have our favorite kind of feud, the young guy and the veteran champion. Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano do not see eye to eye, and it has nothing to do with their difference in height.

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin stayed out of it and drove his car to victory.

So, what are we going to see for the rest of the year? Retaliation rarely happens at Daytona given the dangers of superspeedway racing. But will we see these moments come back to bite drivers in the rear bumper, so to speak?