“Pretty Pissed Off” – Kurt Busch Frustrated After Contact With Denny Hamlin Sends Him Into the Wall in NASCAR Atlanta Race

Published 03/22/2021, 10:15 AM EDT

During the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, there was an incident. Sometime during the second stage, there was a caution period thrown. When it ended, Kyle Larson led everyone at the start, but the real action unfolded behind him. As it turned out, Kurt Busch got turned around and crashed into the wall.

Apparently, the whole thing got triggered when Kyle Busch got some wheel spin and had a slow getaway. This forced many drivers behind him to check up, including Chase Elliott, the older Busch, and Denny Hamlin. Unfortunately, Kurt got turned around when Denny Hamlin went into the back of his car.

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When he got on the radio, he screamed out, that he picked a lane and Hamlin punted him. Speaking after the race, he said, “The #18 was the outside lead car, the #9 kind of checked up too, I checked up. The #17 hit us from behind, it’s just the accordion effect, and then I jump to the middle. I’m here, I position myself, rearranged my lanes and made another block.

“Dude, it’s a 500-miler. These are the days that hurt the worst. This absolutely hurts the worst….I’m pretty pissed off. It’s a restart, where are we gonna go man, chill.”

What else did Kurt Busch say about the incident?

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The Chip Ganassi Racing driver insisted that Hamlin’s contact was deliberate. On the other end of the scale, this was a gutting loss, as he was running in the top five at the time of the incident. Of course, he is quite furious, but it was a restart, so where was he going to go, that Hamlin pulled off such a move.

Sadly, the contact ended Busch’s race for good, and he was reduced to a spectator. Meanwhile, Hamlin went on to finish fourth, behind Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman.

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With this finish, Denny Hamlin keeps his Cup Series championship lead. However, the #11 driver has yet to reach Victory Lane in the 2021 season.

“Been 2nd-Best to Harvick There”- Denny Hamlin Aims for Atlanta Win After Stellar Start to NASCAR Season

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst 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.