Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch made contact with each other in Turn 7 on Lap 45 of Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International. While it looked like the contact was the result of a Ross Chastain divebomb into the corner, Hamlin didn’t see it that way. He said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that Chastain […]
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch made contact with each other in Turn 7 on Lap 45 of Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International. While it looked like the contact was the result of a Ross Chastain divebomb into the corner, Hamlin didn’t see it that way.
He said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that Chastain was not at fault. Rather, Busch had gotten into him the corner before, so he responded by leaving him minimal room in Turn 7.
“I don’t think it was Ross’ fault,” Hamlin said. “I saw it — yes, he dived in there late, but I got up the racetrack and I got into Kyle. Kyle got into me the corner before, like I was racing 2×2 with someone and I think he came in from a ways back and just jammed it in there and made a lot of contact, bounced me up into the 45 [Tyler Reddick]. So, I went into that corner and I’m not gonna cut him any break. I see the 1 [Chastain], he dives in there, so I leave room for the 1 and the 8 [Busch] is not really leaving me a whole lot of room, and at that point I’m like, ‘Am I gonna let you just run over me and now I’m gonna lift for you also?’
“I don’t know, it wasn’t Ross’ fault. It was inadvertent contact, but I just wasn’t willing to give more room at that point. Just because of how I got treated in the previous corner.”
Denny Hamlin tells all of Watkins Glen incident with Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain
Busch got the worst of it. He got knocked sideways, though he was able to get it back straight and continue racing. Shortly after, however, his team asked him if there was anything they could do to help him.
“Not racing with dickheads would certainly help,” Busch said.
Busch acknowledged after the race that the contact lost him some valuable track position: “We lost lot of track position at roughly the halfway point after on track contact. Worked to make it back up and finished inside the top 25. Now we’ll focus on Richmond and racing our way into the playoffs.”
Busch never quite recovered, and he finished 22nd. Chastain raced on to tally a 10th-place finish, while Hamlin’s road course woes continued, as he scored a P25 result.
Category: General Sports
