When Denny Hamlin “beat your favorite driver” last fall in Bristol, the spotlight fell on Denny’s 51st Cup Series victory. It was poetically justified one more time, as the champion claimed his 52nd, “beating your favorite again” in this year’s spring race at “The Last Great Colosseum”. However, his iconic catchphrase was not his headline this time, thanks to Mr. Dennis Hamlin Sr. The victory celebrations surprisingly laid out a shoutout to an unlikely prop in the face of two consecutive Bristol victories for JGR’s most popular star, courtesy of a Kyle Larson fan.

The “cling-wrapped cucumber” that was hurled at Hamlin’s car last year, which generated considerable buzz, was back again. This time in twos, and the BMS “sword’ was the perfect adversary as Denny Hamlin explained on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental. Before the Bristol race kicked off the festivities on what would result in the most lead changes in the history of a short track, Hamlin, and fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr, joined Kenny Wallace and John Roberts to enthrall fans on “Trackside Live” as the cucumber made a surprise cameo. Wallace quipped that they had indeed found the cucumber that was lying on the front stretch after the exciting events of the Night Race.

Kyle Larson Fans Bring Out the Cucumber(s) for Denny Hamlin

Amidst the amusement, one NASCAR fan caught everybody’s attention as he held the crisp green veggie high above his head beckoning to the icons. Hamlin told co-host Jared Allen on the latest episode, “We found the guy who threw the Cucumber at me last fall.” The ever-realistic Allen retorted with, “At least you found a guy who claimed that he was the guy that threw the Cucumber…” 

The #11 Toyota Camry XSE driver explained as he continued, “He’s in the back, he’s got a Kyle Larson hat on, Kyle Larson shirt on and he’s got two cucumbers, and he’s holding them up and they’re like, ‘wait a minute who is that?’ and the guy runs to the front and he’s like ‘just set the record straight, I wasn’t throwing it at you,’ but here’s his story… 

The guy in question identified himself as Mark. He had an incredible story and Denny told fans all about the assumed “attack”. “His story is that he was giving me the cucumbers. He says, ‘Because what do you get when you win?’ I said a checkered flag. He said ‘What else?’ He’s like, ‘A sword! You get a sword! I was giving you a cucumber so you could dice em up,’”

The observant veteran driver observed: “‘This sounds like a person trying not to incriminate themselves’ and get them kicked out of this race but evidently he came bearing two new cucumbers and he said he would throw them again and now it’s a thing with Bristol they had me dicing up cucumbers in the middle of Victory Lane.” Hamlin did promise “Mark” he would attempt to slice some cucumbers. Safe to say, he got his chance.

Cucumbers Before COTA

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Allen pointed to the band-aid on Hamlin’s index finger when he asked. “Is that how you cut yourself?” Hamlin clarified quickly, “It’s not… but yeah this thing? I just grabbed something in the car wrong when I was getting out.” When the 43-year-old did exit his car to the sound of boos one more time at Bristol, his victory burnout released jubilant smoke from the new Goodyears that engulfed the NASCAR community.

The race in itself saw a debut of the hotly-debated “resin” and the unnatural amount of tire failures, following Goodyear’s visible woes at Phoenix. Veteran composure and tire management skills ruled supreme, in a finish that saw all members of the podium aged 40 or above. Hamlin’s teammate Martin Truex Jr finished right behind him at P2, while RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski joined Hamlin as the second owner/driver following MTJ’s 1-second deficit.

The Kyle Larson fan must not have been too happy, if he is one, that is. Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman placed at 4th, above “Mike’s” assumed favorite, who took the #5 Chevrolet for HMS to a P5 at Bristol.  Will the cucumber make a return in September? We must get to COTA first next week.

Denny Hamlin Replaces “I Beat Your Favorite Driver,” Thanks to a NASCAR Fan