Denny Hamlin didn’t mince words with his crew regarding rival Ty Dillon as they clashed at Dover Motor Speedway, where the NASCAR star made an unusual pit stop request.
Hamlin, on the hunt for his fourth victory of the season, had been a constant presence near the front, tailing Chase Elliott for much of the day. However, he expressed clear frustration with Dillon’s driving style, particularly as his own prospects of winning began to fade when he found himself lapped.
On the team radio, the NASCAR heavyweight voiced his desire for Dillon to give way. It seems this incident is just another round in their ongoing rivalry, especially after Dillon mocked Hamlin following his elimination from NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge.
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“The 10 needs to get the f— out of my way,” Hamlin was overheard telling his team as he looked to pass Dillon. As Hamlin continued to have issues passing Dillon, he added: “I’m burning my stuff up with this f—— idiot.”
With the race paused due to weather with only 14 laps remaining, Hamlin discussed his dynamic with Dillon during an interview with TNT Sports. “Yeah, I mean he’s battling for 24th and to win his matchup again, so yeah,” he remarked.
“You know, I get it … that’s just me not thinking about his big picture, which I really don’t care. It all worked out, but certainly it was kind of an inopportune time there and it cost us the lead and then that spot, but we got it back no problem.”
The tension between Hamlin and Dillon continues to escalate, with Hamlin’s recent tirade being the newest episode in their storied competition. Following Hamlin’s exit from the $1 million contest after a major crash in Atlanta, Dillon quickly retorted, invoking Hamlin’s well-known slogan.
“All you Denny [Hamlin] fans out there. I just knocked your favorite driver out,” Dillon quipped after the incident. Despite their verbal sparring, Dillon and Hamlin have yet to physically clash on the track.
NASCAR icon Kevin Harvick expressed his annoyance with drivers who frequently trash talk on the radio but fail to back up their words with action. Specifically, Harvick argued that drivers should either vent their frustrations on the track or keep their mouths shut.
“I don’t know about the fights, but if you’re going to call somebody out on the radio and you’re going to talk a bunch of s—, at least go do something, or immediately just hammer them,” Harvick stated, as reported by on3.
“Just all the s— talking that happens on the radio, and then nothing happening on the racetrack. There’s just no better message that you can send than just wiping somebody out in retaliation. Then they know you’ll do it, right? When they know that you’ll do it, they’re not going to wipe you out. Because they don’t want to deal [with that].
“That’s one reason why, back when I drove, you just – every once in a while – you just had to wipe somebody out. You had to just send a message. You had a bunch of chaos – do you want to deal with the chaos, and do you want to get wiped out? Fine, let’s do it. But I don’t know that anybody is going to do that.”
Hamlin, while dealing with Dillon’s shenanigans on the track, is also navigating legal issues involving his 23XI Racing team. He chose to keep details under wraps regarding the lawsuit between 23XI and NASCAR but hinted at future revelations.
He teased: “If you want answers, you want to understand why all this is happening, come December 1st, you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for. All will be exposed,” adding a sense of mystery. “December 1st is all that matters. Mark your calendar. I’d love to be doing other things. I’ve got a lot going on. When I get in the car [today], nothing else is going to matter other than that.”