It all began when Hamlin took aim at Busch’s form on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “If you’re expecting Kyle Busch to just go back to victory lane, you’re going to be very disappointed,” Hamlin said, questioning the two-time champion’s current trajectory. That didn’t sit well with Kyle Busch, who fired back, turning it into a full-blown war of words. And now, this feud has taken a new twist, with a NASCAR executive publicly calling out Denny Hamlin over what appears to be a case of selective outrage.

NASCAR executive turns the tables on Denny Hamlin

The latest twist in the feud came not from Kyle Busch, but from inside NASCAR itself. After Kyle Busch pushed back on his comments, Denny Hamlin attempted to clarify his stance, writing: “Pretty sure I said I have no idea because im not his Cc, engineer, team owner etc..”

That’s when Mike Forde stepped in with a pointed, almost sarcastic response: “Being misrepresented must be the WORST. #Bots.” It appeared to be a straightforward jab at first. However, the moment was much more nuanced because of the background.

If you remember, Hamlin has previously also seen circumstances involving “misrepresentation.” Denny Hamlin had publicly denounced an ESPN piece that tried to clarify the situation during the contentious lawsuit period last year. He didn’t hold back either, referring to it as propaganda and even involving Forde.

“Please give credit to @mforde [Mike Forde, NASCAR’s managing director of communications] for helping you write this propaganda piece that they want pushed to switch the narrative,” Hamlin had written in response to Ryan McGee. At the time, Forde had pushed back, suggesting Hamlin was stretching the interpretation without fully understanding the piece.

That statement lit a firestorm. Fans, already frustrated with the playoff system after the Martinsville finish, took it as confirmation that NASCAR wasn’t taking their concerns seriously. Social media quickly filled with users insisting they were real people, not bots. It turned the debate into something far bigger than just racing format.

But Forde later pushed back on that narrative, clarifying his side of the exchange on X: “Said Twitter/X generally has an abundance of bots. But, I guess I could see how that could be misconstrued. Trust me … I see many of the fan tweets about the Playoffs, and they have pulses.”

Even with that clarification, the damage had already been done. The “bots” comment became symbolic of a larger disconnect between NASCAR leadership and its fanbase. And now, with Forde’s recent jab at Hamlin, that old controversy has come roaring back into the spotlight. It proves that in NASCAR, nothing really stays in the past for long.