Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch playfully recalled an incident from last year's Brickyard 400.
Last July, Busch spun underneath Hamlin during the closing laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hamlin, who earned a stage victory earlier in the race, finished 32nd after pitting and wrecking on an overtime restart. Busch placed 25th.
Earlier this week, Busch appeared on Hamlin's Actions Detrimental podcast. Hamlin recalled that Busch was supposed to join the show after the Brickyard 400.
Hamlin joked that Busch "dodged me for a year." Busch, who lamented sacrificing a morning workout to speak with Hamlin, laughed when telling his peer that he "wrecked my ass" at Indianapolis.
"Hold on. Stop the press," Hamlin responded (h/t On3). "You were inside of me and lost control of your car."
"Can we talk about how we hate these cars again?" Busch answered. "It was 12 laps. I think I was faster than you, but it was 12 laps to the end of the race. I'm not going to ask you to pull over at the end of the race."
Hamlin noted that he was trying to preserve enough fuel to finish.
"He would literally lift at the start/finish line three lanes down off the wall, knowing that there is no chance in hell anybody’s going to go around the outside," Busch said. "You're going to look like an IndyCar, if you put it around the outside and you put your right sides in the rubber."
Although Hamlin initially thought Busch called off the interview to avoid taking accountability for the crash, the No. 11 Toyota driver later learned that Busch sustained a legitimate wrist injury.
Busch said his wrist is mostly "fine" but still sore some weeks. Hamlin related, as he still doesn't feel 100 percent after hurting his wrist during the Daytona 500 in February.
Later in the conversation, Hamlin theorized that he's replaced Busch as NASCAR's villain. Busch mockingly congratulated Hamlin on earning the role he's abdicated while seeking his first win of the 2025 season.
"When you can be winning, when you have the clout to back up what you say, you can do it all," Busch said. "You can act the fool all you want because you can back it up. I have nothing to back it up right now."
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