Old rivalries die hard. Denny Hamlin has not had a pretty history with Alex Bowman in NASCAR. In a 2021 playoff race in Martinsville, Hamlin bumped into Bowman’s winning car in retaliation for the latter spinning him out with 7 laps to go. The unpleasant exchange that followed was not at all pretty, with Hamlin saying, “He’s just an absolute hack. Gets his a– kicked by his teammates every week. F—- terrible.” Four years later, we witnessed yet another fallout between the two drivers in Kansas. However, Hamlin is tired of his ‘villain’ status and tried to ameliorate things with Rick Hendrick’s driver.

The AdventHealth 400 on Sunday unfolded with a slew of technical snags and cautions. While Kyle Larson smoothly sailed to a dominant victory, his teammate, Alex Bowman, fought against several odds. However, what made Bowman fume the most was Denny Hamlin’s antics. However, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has revealed his side of the story.

Denny Hamlin tries to shave off blame

Well, the No. 48 team was executing a solid day of redemption in Kansas. For the previous five weeks, Alex Bowman had two DNFs and an average finish of 28.2. After starting in the 21st spot, the No. 48 car had charged into the top 10 early on. However, disaster struck soon enough as Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ford veered right and forced Bowman hard into the wall.

Denny Hamlin was also involved as the No. 11 Toyota ran just beside Bowman’s 48 when Smith’s car got between them. After that, Hamlin apparently waved his hand to mock Bowman’s slow pace while passing him at the end of stage 2. That was the last straw for Bowman, who fumed over the in-car radio: “Tell him to put his hand back in the window and don’t drive me in the f—— fence next time.”

The fallout of events left Denny Hamlin dumbstruck after the race. The JGR driver frantically proceeded to prove his innocence in a recent episode of ‘Actions Detrimental’. Hamlin insisted that he did not set off Bowman’s incident. “I couldn’t for the life of me – I got on social media after the race. This is, ‘Alex is p—- at the 11 for running him in the fence.’ I was like, ‘What?!’ So I’m looking at the SMT the whole plane ride home, like, never even got close to this guy. What is he talking about? We just checked HBO Max… Maybe someone in the 48 [Alex Bowman] camp can send me a clip of me running him somewhere. But again, it never even was on my radar from the entire race, so shocking to me.” However, Alex Bowman did not blame just Denny Hamlin.

Driving the Gen-7 cars side-by-side can make them tight and lose grip, resulting in scrapes with the wall. Bowman had acknowledged, “That’s the unfortunate part of racing these cars.” Hamlin took up on that note and emphasized the car’s problems more as an explanation for his hand-waving. “I gave him the ‘what the hell’ because we were running side by side. I just ran them down from forever back. At that point, these cars are so draggy, you run down the straightaway, just side draft and stuff, you lose half a second a lap for doing it. Do it for three straight laps, and the next thing you know, the guy he was battling, and when I caught him, is gone. Because it’s like, you want to hang on my quarter panel.”

Kyle Busch, who joined Hamlin on his Actions Detrimental podcast, added his experience with the side draft at Kansas. “I’m guilty of that with the 11 [Denny Hamlin] through the weekend,” said Busch. “I think it was the start of the second stage… Denny and I are running side-by-side for three laps, and I’m like, ‘If I can just clear this guy. Get off my door!” Busch eventually made the pass on Hamlin but was not able to catch the next guy in line, so had to concede the spot, adding, “I cleared you [Denny Hamlin] for a lap and I was still too tight… then I was like ‘Alright, I think I’ll let him go now.” 

Busch ended up putting a strong run together before being spun out late in stage 3. Meanwhile, Hamlin lost his clutch in stage 3 and had to retire! The race was not one to remember for both veterans, but Hamlin’s detractor, Alex Bowman, ended up profiting. Bowman clinched a top-five finish while Denny Hamlin recorded his second consecutive DNF for the first time in 12 years. But while Denny Hamlin is nursing his wounds from Kansas, he is also looking ahead.

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Welcoming NASCAR’s new ideas

Ever since the All-Star Race came into existence, NASCAR has used it as a testing ground. From green-white checkered flags to last year’s Goodyear experiment, the non-points event of the year is like a dummy ground. Now, in 2025, North Wilkesboro Speedway is setting the stage for more innovative ideas. The All-Star Race has also been expanded this season to 250 laps instead of the customary 200.

More importantly, it will feature a competition break around the 100-lap mark. Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith will call that phantom caution, and already, many drivers have created an uproar about this loss of control. “What are we doing?” Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch ridiculed NASCAR’s latest idea. However, his rival has an optimistic approach.

Denny Hamlin sanctioned the sanctioning body’s new All-Star format. “All-Star format’s OK. Does it have a gimmick in there? Yeah, but it’s not super gimmicky. I hear some people talk about, ‘Oh, this is just all we need is NASCAR to open up Pandora’s box. They can throw a caution whenever they want.'” He gleaned the positives from the proposition, observing how teams will get a chance to prepare beforehand. “I mean, it could be worse. We know it’s coming, so you might as well just plan for it as a team, that if we don’t have a caution between Lap 175 and 220, they are going to throw a caution. So you might as well just bank on that.”

The JGR veteran seems to be coming to terms with NASCAR’s antics. However, when it’s not NASCAR, it’s his fellow drivers putting him under the pump. Do you think Rick Hendrick’s team will pay heed to Hamlin’s explanation? Let us know in the comments!