Folks, NASCAR drivers have had crazy experiences on and off the track. Remember how Dale Jr. and Alex Bowman got drunk after the Chicago Street Race? “It was a pretty late start, but we hung out. There was Taco Bell and pizza here when we got home. Chloe had us hooked up when we got home, which was good. We kind of just hung out, had a good time drinking. Everybody ended up in the pool at some point,” Bowman said. Well, fun is off the charts beyond races. A similar incident had unfolded between two of the most blunt drivers in NASCAR history.

Yes! We are talking about Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Rowdy has cheekily passed the “villain” torch to his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, saying, “I’m glad to hand that role off to you.” Hamlin’s recent antics, like calling out team owners for undervaluing drivers or clashing with Chase Elliott at Martinsville, fit the role perfectly. Their bond, built during their 2008-2022 stint at Joe Gibbs Racing, shone through as they dove into a wild story from their past—a New York City bet that tested their limits and ended in a smelly prank.

The perfect revenge for a lost bet

Picture Manhattan’s buzzing streets, where Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jared Allen, and Martin Truex Jr. were out enjoying the city. Busch bet Hamlin he could run 5.3 miles to their hotel faster than Hamlin’s group could drive. The latter, banking on the speed of the car, accepted the bet. So Allen and Busch got out of the car and started to walk in a straight line. They sprinted through the urban maze, only to realize the distance was 7.3 miles. Guess who won?

The shocker being, Kyle Busch and Jared Allen beating the car-bound group, who were stuck in gridlock. “We got whamboozled,” Hamlin admitted on his Actions Detrimental podcast. But their paying up after the loss was legendary. They paid Rowdy in dirty pennies. The pair took a bag full of dirt pennies and dropped it on Kyle Busch’s bed. “Those were dirty pennies, too,” Hamlin recalled. And the thing with them is they stink! And Rowdy learnt it he hard way.

Later, Busch said, “It stunk so bad… we come back to the room and it’s like, ‘What is that smell?’” But then Hamlin gave his insight. “You don’t recognize when you’re holding just a couple pennies, but you put a bucket of them, it’s bad,” he said. But gladly, Busch was off the hook easily. “We literally went back to the hotel to change our clothes and go to the airplane,” he said. The crew’s recounting was full of laughs. It was really lucky for Rowdy as he was getting back soon. Imagine staying in a room full of stinking pennies! But Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch used to be a force to reckon with.

At Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin and Busch won a combined 119 Cup Series races. This was before Busch moved to Richard Childress Racing in 2022, a move Childress called “significant” for the sport, praising Busch’s championship pedigree. Hamlin applauded it, noting Childress replaced Tyler Reddick, who joined Hamlin’s 23XI Racing, with “a 60-time winner”.

The penny bet showed the playful side of #8 and #11’s bond, a contrast to Kyle Busch’s 2025 frustrations. Despite his Kansas outbursts, Busch’s humor on the podcast—joking about his radio “disconnect”—hinted at resilience. But Hamlin was fighting his own battle at the track, one that he had never come across before.

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The 23XI Racing owner’s Kansas setback

Denny Hamlin’s 2025 AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway was a heartbreaker. His No. 11 car screamed with speed, but a failing clutch stole the show. Pit road turned chaotic early on—a 17.4-second stop, a dropped lugnut, and his crew shoving the car to get it moving. Crew chief Chris Gayle urged calm over the radio: “Come into the stall and put it in neutral… Stay out there, it’s not over.” But the struggle was real.

By lap 197, the clutch completely gave out. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin shared, “It lost all of its throw, and it was rock hard. It never engaged.” It was his first-ever clutch failure, forcing him to the garage. The P36 finish marked his second straight DNF, a blow after 424 races without back-to-back DNFs. “I think we just broke the trans-axle trying to leave the stall. Really fast again – just can’t keep it together right now,” he told FOX Sports. But the #11 driver was not all clean and composed.

Giving his fellow racer a piece of his mind, when Hamlin passed Alex Bowman in Stage 2, he waved. Bowman fumed over the radio: “Tell him to put his hand back in the window and don’t drive me in the f—— fence next time.” Bowman, despite a P5 finish, later admitted he was “grumpy.” Hamlin’s points standing slid to seventh, but his two wins this season keep his playoff hopes alive. Kansas was a bitter pill, but his resilience shines through—fans know he’ll fight back.