Denny Hamlin didn’t hold back on Kyle Busch after the Cup race at Bristol. Speaking about his former teammate, Hamlin unleashed a flood of opinions on Busch’s disappointing last few seasons with RCR, to the point where it got a pretty harsh reaction out of Busch. But Hamlin isn’t in the mood to back down either, as he reacted to Busch hours later.

Denny Hamlin left confused by Kyle Busch’s angry reaction

Ahead of the Cup race at Kansas this weekend, Kyle Busch reacted to Hamlin’s midweek reaction on Actions Detrimental over his difficult era at RCR. Busch had claimed that most people don’t know what they’re talking about. And in Hamlin’s case, even he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

“He can bash me all he wants and I can certainly make his life hell,” Busch claimed.

Hours later, Denny Hamlin shared his reaction to Busch’s comments on his X account. “Not really sure what I’m supposed to do. I host a podcast and I have to answer questions about relevant topics. Should I just say I dunno, everything seems fine to me? Not sure where he felt I “bashed”. Im walking a damn tight rope here,” he wrote.

To Hamlin’s point, him being a host of a podcast does make it natural for him to discuss storylines from NASCAR. And Kyle Busch’s dry spell with RCR is arguably one of the biggest storylines in the sport. The former JGR driver went from winning three races in his first season with RCR in 2023 to not winning a single race in three years.

Moreover, Hamlin being a podcast host allows his listeners to understand the sport from the perspective of a driver and not an analyst or a broadcaster. This was something that was clear in Hamlin’s comments on Busch mid-week.

One of the points Denny Hamlin made about the 2x Cup champion was him wondering if Busch is too ‘hands on’ with his crew chief when it comes to setup decisions. “Maybe in the short term. Maybe he just says ‘I am going to give you feedback and just drive the car’ because it’s the drivers job to send them in a direction but that doesn’t mean telling them what to change,” Hamlin claimed.

All in all, he had expressed concern over Busch not adapting to the Next Gen car, and not ‘bashed’ or criticized his former teammate for his struggles.

Hamlin wondered why Busch is not carrying his team like his legacy

A key point in Denny Hamlin’s commentary on Kyle Busch’s struggles at RCR was that the #8 driver was struggling even before he made the switch in 2023. “We keep talking about this but the last couple of years (at Joe Gibbs Racing) was not good; it’s been like this for five years,” Hamlin said.

He further claimed that someone who is a Hall of fame Mt. Rushmore level of a driver should carry his team better. Instead, Busch is being outclassed by his teammate Austin Dillon.

The #3 driver, who has way less experience than his teammate, has finished better than his teammate in some races this season. In fact, Dillon has managed to squeeze out a win in the last two seasons in the same car in which Busch struggles to win.

In the end, Hamlin had claimed that Busch had struggled even before he joined RCR, which makes sense because the former #18 driver only managed a single win in his last season with JGR.

But Hamlin’s reaction to Busch’s reaction has opened up a Pandora’s box of questions, one of which is whether NASCAR drivers can or cannot comment on their rivals’ struggles. Because if they can, then Busch’s reaction seems exaggerated.

And if they can’t, then it is Denny Hamlin who would need to work on his choice of words and subjects on his podcast.