The Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in 2025 was a heart-pounding showdown, but the real fireworks came in the final laps. Denny Hamlin, wrestling a No. 11 Toyota with busted power steering, was gunning for the win to boost his playoff hopes. With two laps left in double overtime, he made a bold move on his 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace, who was leading. And the aftermath was electric.

In Turn 3, Hamlin nudged Wallace up the track and into the wall, a split-second decision that opened the door for Chase Elliott to slip through and steal the victory. Wallace, fuming over the lost win, flipped Hamlin off during the cooldown lap, sparking talk of a rift between the driver and his team co-owner. However, Hamlin has now set the record straight.

Denny Hamlin clears the air on Bubba Wallace clash

On the Actions Detrimental podcast, when asked about Wallace’s middle-finger salute, Hamlin didn’t flinch: “By the way, that was not a motivational factor in well, if I don’t win, I want to make sure Bubba doesn’t win that. That is absolutely silly. I’m trying to win for myself first, to make the move I made to win. I raced hard. I never want to be accused of racing with bias. This should certainly silence that, but I mean, we had a great finish.”

Hamlin was clear; his Turn 3 move was about winning, not settling scores. And he did look like he would snag that win after leading a race-high 159 laps, sweeping the stages and scoring the fastest lap. Starting second on the grid, the 44-year-old settled for the same place finish after scoring 56 points.

Bubba Wallace, on the other hand, started the race 7th on the grid and finished in 5th. Though that’s an uptick, it was not the outcome the 2025 Brickyard 400 winner wanted after leading both overtime restarts. Though Wallace faced handling issues with the car early on, it was resolved by crew chief Charles Denike during Stage 1. And soon enough, the tables started to turn in their favor as the No. 23 driver chipped away, cracking the top five in the middle frame.

And for this, Wallace showed elation with his crew members. He even gave Hamlin a friendly pat on the side. But that doesn’t take away the fact that the driver was still sour about how his boss raced him on the final lap. A win for either Hamlin or Wallace was absolutely crucial, as it would have propelled them to the Round of 8 with a guarantee. Instead, we saw Hamlin leaving with 48 points above the provisional cutline, and Wallace exited 26 points below.

And now Denny Hamlin is breaking down all that happened: “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.”

Wallace’s gesture was raw emotion, and Hamlin got it. After all, Wallace entered Kansas 27 points below the elimination cutline, and there was no way he could afford to mess up his run. So, when his progress was threatened by Hamlin, he screamed, “He’s a f*king d*uche” over the radio. However, after the race, he was rather mellow in his response, saying, “Two years ago, I’d probably say something dumb, like he’s a dumbass for that move, for sure. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not.” 

As drivers, they’re rivals on Sunday, not boss and worker, and Hamlin is cognizant of that: “But anything directed by me as an owner, I would certainly have an exception to that because, as an owner, I know the tremendous resources that Michael and I give Bubba every single week to go out there and compete. We have invested a ton to make sure our drivers have the best cars possible, and we’re constantly looking to improve. I don’t take that personally as the owner. I’m assuming that we got someone that’s in the game on the field in a heated moment, and I give him grace on that because we are competitors, we compete on Sunday.”

The Kansas finish wasn’t just about Hamlin and Wallace. Chase Elliott’s last-lap heroics sealed the deal, and he’s keeping it chill about the contact.

Chase Elliott’s take on the Chaos

“Yeah, we did make contact off of (turn) four. We were pretty much door to door, the best I can remember,” Elliott said post-race. With fresh tires, Elliott was charging hard, and Hamlin, fighting his steering, tried to block.

“I was coming on the bottom with a pretty good head of steam. I think he saw me coming, and he was just trying to cover my run. I think he was a little late to the party.” Elliott shrugged it off. “It was no harm, no foul,” confident Hamlin would agree, as the bump didn’t change the outcome. Elliott was winning regardless.

On the Hamlin-Wallace clash, Chase Elliott stayed neutral. “Honestly, probably not fair for me to comment. I was coming down the back, and yes, I was right behind them. Once I saw that they were fixing to ship it in there, my eyes went to where I needed to go, so I quit watching them.”

His focus was laser-sharp, hugging the white line to sneak by while Hamlin and Wallace tangled. “I knew I had to paint that white line really precisely; it’s a pretty small window,” he said. Elliott’s win, sparked by Hamlin’s move on Wallace, ties back to Hamlin’s podcast take. Racing’s about competition, not grudges.