Denny Hamlin, a NASCAR veteran, believes that his former colleague Kyle Busch might have avoided the All-Star clash with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. if not for “his emotions getting the better of him.” Busch and Stenhouse were involved in a frenzied confrontation following the All-Star race Sunday.
With NASCAR activity returned to the famous North Wilkesboro Speedway, the focus was on the drivers racing in an exhibition race for the coveted $1 million prize. Despite Joey Logano’s impressive victory on Sunday, Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stole the show.
The drama began when Busch, piloting his No. 8 Chevy, bumped into Stenhouse’s No. 47, sending the car slamming into the perimeter wall. As a result of the crash, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was knocked out of the race after just two laps.
In retaliation, Stenhouse walked up to Busch’s trailer post-race before engaging in a verbal confrontation with the RCR driver. The altercation quickly turned physical as the JTG Daugherty Racing driver connected a right hook on Busch’s face, resulting in a massive brawl.Reflecting on the incident following the race, Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin dissected on the reasoning behind Kyle Busch’s actions in the second lap. Speaking on a recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin highlighted Busch’s poor run of form this season, stating:
“I think that Kyle’s frustrated in general, right now, in life. He’s frustrated on track because he feels he should be running better than he is. I think he should be as well. I think that he’s in a different situation than he was in for many many years. [48:30 onwards]
“He’s trying his best to carry this thing as far he can carry it. But your emotions get the best of you at times, and I think it got the best of him in Turn 2 when he knocked Ricky into the fence.”
“Did he think that Ricky was going to get loose and nose it in? No. I think that he thought, ‘I’m just gonna spin the f*** around here and we’re just gonna go our way.’ But it certainly was more than that.”
Kyle Busch was about to apologise to Ricky Stenhouse Jr., states Denny Hamlin
Recounting the moment when Busch and Stenhouse were engaged in a verbal battle before Stenhouse turned physical, Hamlin believes that Kyle Busch could have avoided the physical confrontation by apologising to the former Daytona 500 winner. Hamlin said:
“When they first met face-to-face, Kyle saying ‘Oh my god Ricky, I am so sorry. I screwed up. You are so right,’ that was the only way he was not going to get punched. [50:30 onwards]
“It was the only way because I thought Kyle didn’t really justify anything. He was like, right before the punch, you heard him saying, because Ricky said, ‘Go look at it. I never touched you.’ (Kyle said) ‘Well, if that happened,’ — boom.”
Denny Hamlin believes that, at this juncture, his former teammate was about to apologise to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. before he was smacked in the face. Hamlin said:
“He was just about to make the turn into the relationship where he was like, ‘Okay, you’re right, I’ll apologize, I’ll look at it. If that what happened, sorry.’ He just never got the chance to say it, because Ricky saw the opportunity to throw this punch, starting to dwindle.”
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