Controversy and Denny Hamlin seem to have become synonymous in the world of NASCAR. There does not go a single race weekend where the Joe Gibbs Racing driver fails to make the headlines. Well, given his seemingly antagonist status in the paddocks of NASCAR, the controversies seem to be inevitable, and Sunday’s race was no exception.

With the NASCAR world divided on Denny Hamlin’s controversial restart, it seems the veterans of the sport have also voiced their stances. However, given Hamlin’s outspoken nature, he did let it go unheard as he and his crew chief Chris Gabehart joined forces to settle the debate once and for all. 

Why treat the fans like idiots: Dirt racing legend

The inception of these controversies began when Denny Hamlin’s team driver Bubba Wallace nudged Kyle Larson with just two laps to go into the race. As a result, Larson was shoved to the infield grass, bringing out the caution and an overtime restart. With Hamlin and his teammate Martin Truex Jr, starting on the front row in the final restart, it was the #11 Toyota driver who managed to snatch the lead and take the chequered. However, his teammate accused Hamlin of jumping the restart, which should have resulted in a penalty. Owing to this, the NASCAR community was divided as to whether Hamlin was befitting of the victory or whether the governing body played favorites with the veteran driver.

Nonetheless, trying to resolve the issue, Hamlin on his podcast tried to provide his justification for the final restart. While many seemed to have been convinced with the JGR driver’s justification, legendary dirt racer Kevin Swindell was far from it. Rather, the dirt racer took to Twitter to speak his mind and stated, “Just saw a clip of Denny arguing about what defines the zone. Like bro. It used to be a smaller box with a line on the wall and no line on the track but dude acts like he just made an oops. Just own it. You went early. They didn’t call it. Nothing will change. It’s not your problem. Why treat the race fans like idiots? You can’t go till the line. It’s black and white. It’s not a suggestion.”

However, given Hamlin’s personality, the driver did not give in easily without providing his own explanation. Hamlin countered the dirt racer’s argument by stating, “See this is where you not listening and instead using a clip to jump to conclusions. I was joking about what is A ZONE. Not what is THE ZONE. That clip is spliced together. And I wouldn’t treat fans like idiots unless they did what you just did.”

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Moreover, with the bickering intensifying, Swindell also tried to assert how the sport seemed to be biased and the rules differed from driver to driver. The veteran dirt driver asserted how the ruling would have changed if it was a driver from a lesser-known or financially weaker team, perhaps someone like Corey LaJoie. Trying to justify the whole restart, Hamlin’s crew chief also joined the debate with his analogy.

Crew Chief Chris Gabehart retorted, “Have you ever seen a football game where a pass interference call should have been called but didn’t while in the endzone and the clock hits 0 with the game on the line? The refs don’t want to get involved, so they let the players play. That’s all this was. Quit crying already.”

No matter how controversial, Denny Hamlin made sure he faced the controversy head on as he further discussed the restart.

Denny Hamlin spills the beans on whether he made a jump start

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The reason behind the intensifying debate began when the 23XI Racing co-owner tried to clear the air on whether he intentionally made a jump start on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental.

When asked by his co-host Jared Allen whether Hamlin deliberately made the jump start, the driver did not deny it. Rather, he asserted that it was the only option available for him to gain an advantage over the charging drivers at his heels and lose the upper hand that he had earned due to an impeccable pit-stop.

However, the only difference that Hamlin made that did not result in a penalty was, “Certainly made sure I went to my nose, got there. But I took off right away. Still, we were side by side down the water into Turn 1.”

Although Hamlin seemed to have cleared the air with his justification, it did create an awkward precedent for NASCAR, which could spark further controversies if similar incidents occur.

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