Denny Hamlin went on his podcast "Actions Detrimental With Denny Hamlin" and called out fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for his actions during the mid-race break at the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.
Things got heated at halftime. ? #BuschLightClash pic.twitter.com/GLeFlB7MwS
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 4, 2024
Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemecheck had made some contact on the track early in the race and Stenhouse Jr. wanted to make his frustration known. During the mid-race break, Stenhouse Jr. went over to the No. 42 car and took his window net down and looked to throw a few punches.
Now Hamlin is no stranger to altercations on and off the race track. He has had multiple run-ins with Joey Logano. Hamlin cited incidents with Logano at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2013 and Martinsville Speedway in 2019. In 2013, Hamlin noted that Logano came over to his No. 11 car and tried to throw punches while he was still sitting in his car. This is important because Hamlin said there is a line that is crossed when throwing punches when someone is still in their car.
"I don't know if there's an unwritten rule, but certainly, it's not fair," Hamlin said. "You're not really a tough guy if you go up to someone and punch him while they are strapped in to the car. I've been in scuffles before where one of the parties was held down. You can't throw a punch at someone when someone else is holding them. Like that's just not fair."
Hamlin and Stenhouse Jr. are good friends off of the race track as they play in the same golf league together. This may make it easier for Hamlin to be more open to criticizing Stenhouse Jr. knowing there won't be any hard feelings about the comments made.
Hamlin has had something similar come up with comments and actions towards good friend Kyle Larson. After a couple of run-ins at Kansas Speedway and Pocono Raceway last year, Larson finally made comments about Hamlin, but it has not come back to haunt Hamlin on the race track, as of yet.
It will be interesting to monitor how things between Stenhouse Jr. and Nemechek go moving forward and if Stenhouse Jr. has anything to say about Hamlin's comments on "Actions Detrimental With Denny Hamlin".
