NASCAR President Promises Action After Ugly Denny Hamlin Episode at Martinsville

Published 11/03/2021, 4:38 AM EDT

At the Martinsville Speedway, Denny Hamlin did not earn himself many fans. This was after he tangled with Alex Bowman and later confronted him on the track. Later on, Hamlin got a bit snippy at the #48 Hendrick Motorsports driver. Things threatened to escalate, and now it seems that NASCAR may soon be forced to step in.

NASCAR president Scott Miller said, “We will talk about it. It is first thing, Monday morning and we all got home at probably 11PM last night after inspection was over. We haven’t had those conversations yet. Still TBD on a few things that went on after the races. Emotion is good, but there is a line and it is not an easy line to establish, but we will have this conversation.”

Hopefully, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver keeps his nose clean in the final race of the season. The last thing he needs is for any kind of drama, as he bids for a maiden Cup Series title. Unfortunately, Hamlin and the Martinsville Speedway have some bad blood between them. This dates as far back as the 2017 season when he was battling Chase Elliott for Playoff spots and punted him out of the race.

Article continues below this ad

What happened between Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman?

Article continues below this ad

Late in the race, Hamlin was leading with Bowman right on his tail. With 23 laps to go, the #48 driver nudged Hamlin out of the way and took the lead. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver retaliated immediately and snatched the lead back. They continued dueling for a bit, until Bowman bumped Denny Hamlin into a spin.

For the moment, Denny Hamlin will be thanking his lucky stars that he is in the Championship 4 battle. Despite his Martinsville antics, the 40-year-old somehow sneaked into the finale. Now, he has to banish all those thoughts and focus on the fight with Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr, and arch-rival Chase Elliott.

Article continues below this ad

In all his years in the sport, Hamlin has never won the Cup Series, even though he came close on many occasions. He will be hoping that next weekend’s race will be kind to him and he will earn his maiden crown.

Alex Bowman’s Crew Chief Gets Brutally Honest on Denny Hamlin’s Post-Race Comments at Martinsville

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.