Denny Hamlin just can’t seem to catch a break from last weekend at Kansas. Bubba Wallace looked poised to grab a crucial win on Sunday, but his shot at glory collided, literally, with his boss, Hamlin, on the final overtime lap. While both drivers were doing it for the top spot, Chase Elliott slipped past and parked his No. 9 car in Victory Lane. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Junior didn’t hold back, calling out Hamlin’s aggressive move.

The Hollywood Casino 400 delivered edge-of-your-seat action with the true drama ignited in the closing laps. Denny Hamlin, grappling with a No. 11 Toyota struggling with busted power steering, was laser-focused on a win to strengthen his playoff bid. With just two laps left in double-overtime, he went all in on Bubba Wallace, who was holding the lead, and what followed sent shockwaves throughout the NASCAR world.

Dale Jr gets honest about Hamlin’s approach

Speaking on the Dale Junior Download, Junior wasn’t too happy about Hamlin’s antics. He said, ” I can’t applaud it. I can’t applaud. Not like that. Not with your… not with the car you own. Not with a guy you have to sit in meetings with. If I was out there and drove down the corner and put one of my guys in a wall—how many fires would I be putting in? Everybody’s gonna race as their competitors. I’m just saying, this is—this is a little bit too much.”

In Turn 3, Hamlin had nudged Wallace up the track and into the wall, a split-second, high-stakes move that allowed Chase Elliott to slip past and snatch the victory. Wallace was visibly furious over the last win, flipping Denny Hamlin off during the cooldown lap. This fueled chatter about tension between the driver and his team’s co-owner.

Hamlin, however, made it clear his Turn 3 maneuver was all about racing for the win, not personal grudges. After dominating much of the day, leading a race-high 159 laps, sweeping the stages, and posting the fastest lap, he looked every bit the driver to win the Hollywood Casino 400. Starting second on the grid, the 44-year-old ultimately settled for the runner-up spot as he collected 56 points in the process.

A victory for either Hamlin or Wallace would have been a game-changer, locking them into the Round of 8. Instead, Hamlin walked away sitting 48 points above the provisional cut line, while Wallace ended up 26 points shy of the mark.

However, Dale Junior believes that as a driver and team owner, Hamlin’s approach wasn’t right. He added, “I like him going—I like him going for it. But I think he could have done it a little differently and still been able to get out of the car and look at his crew and go, “Hey, I went for it without wrecking both of us. I went for it without taking either. I went for it. Yet still gave us in the 23—or the 23—a shot, and not letting the Chevrolet go through in the race.”  

There are no signs of this debate slowing down anytime soon. The main concern for Junior was how Hamlin gave up not only his shot at a 60th win but also jeopardized his 23XI Racing driver’s shot at yet another win this season. Chase Elliott’s Kansas win sets him in for the Round of 8, regardless of his performance at Charlotte. However, Hamlin let that opportunity slip by.

Moreover, Hamlin made himself very clear about Wallace’s race post-race. He sounded off on employer-employee relations amid Wallace flipping him off. He said, “Let’s get to the middle finger first. If he were to flip me off in 23XI as the car owner, we’d have employer-employee problems, but as a competitor, he’s flipping off the driver of the 11th. I don’t have an issue with that. I mean, you know I think you can motherf****r the driver 11 cause you’re upset that the finish didn’t go as you hoped.”

And now Hamlin has a lot to think about and consider as the field heads off to Charlotte ROVAL. However, one NASCAR veteran yet again sounds off on Hamlin, accusing him of breaking an unspoken rule of racing.

Kevin Harvick claims Hamlin broke a racing rule amid Bubba-Denny fallout

Denny Hamlin didn’t show any mercy to Bubba Wallace during Sunday’s Round of 12 showdown at Kansas Speedway, and the fallout is still going through the garage. On this week’s episode of the Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick weighed in on the drama, zeroing in on Hamlin’s aggressive late-race move that ended up costing both drivers a shot at the win.

Harvick argued that Hamlin crossed an unwritten rule in the process. He explained, “I’ve been in a position where Denny Hamlin is in currently where you drive for another team and you own cars. And it’s really, really difficult because if he doesn’t drive in there and try to win the race and do what he did, his team is gonna be mad. When it worked out the way that it did, the only rule he broke is one of you better win…That’s kind of the unwritten rule — if you’re going to bang doors with your teammate and you’re going to do all those things, you better make sure one of you wins the race. I know they’re not technically teammates, but they might as well be with the way this all goes.”

Now, Wallace is left with his back against the wall heading into the Charlotte ROVAL. With no road course victories to his name, the odds are stuck high, but his recent form shows progress. For Wallace, it is shaping up as a near must-win scenario, and the stakes couldn’t get any higher than this.