Denny Hamlin Blames Notorious Brad Keselowski as He Acquits His Driver of…

Denny Hamlin Blames Notorious Brad Keselowski as He Acquits His Driver of Foul Play.

At the start of the race in Darlington, Kevin Harvick suggested that cars avoid the upper lane. That’s exactly what Tyler Reddick didn’t do when he collided with Chris Buescher. Denny Hamlin reiterated on this topic on his podcast, where he discussed the incidents with Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher. Although Reddick accepted full responsibility for compromising his and Buescher’s race, 23XI Racing’s co-owner believes Brad Keselowski played a significant role in causing the incident.

Tyler Reddick led for 174 laps in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway until colliding with Chris Buescher late in the race, derailing both their chances.

Brad Keselowski slipped by during the chaos to win and end his 110-race winless streak. Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, speculated that Keselowski may have initiated the sequence of events. Initially, it appeared that Chris Buescher was giving Keselowski a shove from behind, which is a typical procedure for clearing and overtaking other cars.

But this time, the strategy backfired, leaving them in a difficult aerodynamic position that slowed them down. Following this, Keselowski’s interaction with Tyler Reddick may have prompted #45 to step up. When asked if the touch opened things up for Keselowski in Actions Detrimental, Hamlin remarked,

“I believe [the contact between Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski] definitely put him on tilt. I believe it contributed significantly to his give-a-damn being busted. Yeah! Very likely!” While Denny Hamlin acknowledged Tyler Reddick’s daring move of coming too near to Chris Buescher, which resulted in their crash, he argued that Brad Keselowski’s push may have caused that aggressive move. Hamlin also speculated on what Reddick might have been thinking when slipping up the inside.

“I think he went in there legitimately thinking he was going to slide up in front of [Buescher]. And I think he realized halfway through the corner, ‘I am scr*wed, and I’m not going to make it.” After the 23XI Racing co-owner said this, he explained how Reddick may have made the move too soon. But also not. “These cars are tough in traffic, and it’s really hard to pass someone.” After seeing the #17 start to slide a little, Hamlin added, “If I’m in Reddick’s shoes, I’m thinking, ‘This is the closest I’m going to get to him.’” Interestingly, the #45, in fact, said the same thing after the race.

The crash happened with just 10 laps to go. That was when Tyler Reddick felt Chris Buescher was starting to get “dialed in,” so he knew he had to make a move. After the race, feeling guilty about causing the collision and ruining not just his but the #17’s race as well, the 23XI driver tried justifying his actions. “When I was looking at it at the time, the options I thought I had as a table, I thought that was going to be the last opportunity for me to make that move.”

Despite how apologetic Reddick was, Chris Buescher wasn’t ready to pay heed to his rival. “Saying sorry doesn’t fix it,” he told FOX Sports. At the end of the day, though, he had to settle for 30th place. As Hamlin reflected on the whole race and justified his team’s driver’s actions, he couldn’t help but bring up a similar incident from his experience where he pushed the envelope too far.

Denny Hamlin reflected on a similar bold move he made in the Xfinity Series

For the #11 JGR driver, edging the leading car towards the fence to leverage aerodynamic pressure is a familiar tactic—it usually sends the top car into the fence while he scoots by. However, there was a time when Hamlin pushed it too far, much like what happened with Tyler Reddick. Hamlin believes Reddick was attempting something similar.

He recounted, “I tried this during an Xfinity race and went way too far. It was with me and Ross way back in the day and they showed a lot of that this weekend. I went to try to slide them. But, dummy me, I went way too deep. I could have slowed way down. I ended up going so deep I hit the wall. And then he ran into me. I could have slowed my entry up a little more, but it was because I was beside him – I already had a distance advantage when I started to do the slide. So I think trying to do it when you’re not beside them was really low percentage and obviously did not work out and ended both our days.”

While Brad Keselowski’s nudge might have spurred Tyler Reddick to race more aggressively, it ultimately helped Keselowski snap his 3-year winless streak, earning his 36th career victory and his second at Darlington.