One of the most notable highlights from the Bristol dirt race was the constant back and forth between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece from which the Hendrick Motorsports driver eventually came off worse. Initially, many were blaming Preece for what he did to Larson in Stage 3, essentially ending his race, but then, people began to call out the real culprit, as did Denny Hamlin.

And for the 23XI Racing co-owner, the culprit in this situation wasn’t Tony Stewart’s driver.

It was Kyle Larson according to Hamlin as he reasoned why what Ryan Preece did was only fair.

Denny Hamlin calls out Kyle Larson and the type of driver he is

In a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin opened up on the incident between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece at Bristol. Hamlin claimed he watches it afterward, and he came away with a “familiar” looking situation about Larson.

“This is what he does. Kyle is one of my best friends but at this point I have to Kyle out a little bit. Kyle is one of those drivers that puts you in a spot where you have to lift,” Hamlin claimed. “He’s done it to me a few times on the road courses, he’ll get tired of me contesting my position so he’ll just run off in the grass. ‘You either can lift or you’re going through the grass.'”

“I think that he wanted to get clear off (Ryan) Preece, so he just gassed it up and said, ‘Alright, well, I’m coming up and you can lift or go into the fence.’ Preece didn’t lift so he got drove into the fence,” he explained.

“So of course, Preece is pi**ed later on in the race and he crowded Larson.”

It’s worth noting that NASCAR fans had termed Larson as a “crybaby” after the Bristol race. 

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Bubba Wallace’s spotter had also deemed Larson responsible for what happened to him

Sharing his boss’ sentiment on the Larson-Preece incident, Freddie Kraft, the spotter of Bubba Wallace was of the opinion that the #5 driver got what he had coming as he was “the direct result” of why Preece’s night was “ruined.” 

“I don’t think Kyle realized that when Ryan got back to him, and Ryan didn’t do anything more than what Kyle did to Ryan,” he described. “And the reason why Kyle wrecked was Kyle,” he added.

With that said, do you also blame Kyle Larson in this whole scenario?

Let us know in the comments below.

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