Rick Hendrick’s “$100,000” employee warned of bitter Kyle Larson fallout after…

Rick Hendrick’s “$100,000” employee warned of bitter Kyle Larson fallout after expletive filled the chew out.

When you have two of NASCAR’s finest drivers, it’s almost certain that they’ll be paired against one other. That is once again the story between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. The incident in New Hampshire, as well as subsequent comments, fueled the flames. However, this was not their first disagreement. Just recently, in Iowa, Hamlin, who was a lap down at the time, collided with the HMS driver while leading.

While their on-track altercation in New Hampshire made headlines, it was Kyle Larson’s angry radio exchange with his spotter that drew the most attention. While we usually observe drivers having angry conversations with other drivers, this time is different. And let’s just say, Tyler Monn appears to have gotten on Kyle Larson’s nerve.

Kyle Larson’s spotter pressed a button.

Poor weather had already made the race in New Hampshire challenging. And almost everyone was pushing to do their best. During the race’s final stage, Denny Hamlin used up the extra room in the middle, pushed Larson wide, and took away the second place. But the #5 driver didn’t really retaliate much. And this just triggered something in Tyler Monn, his spotter. And well, he didn’t hold back or mince his words.

During the yellow flag on lap 214, Monn offered Kyle Larson a reality check. He said, “He [Denny] always runs you like that; do you know why? Because you allowed that to happen!” And what could one anticipate but Larson’s retaliation? He was not thrilled with Monn’s heated and hostile reply, saying, “Shut the f**k up.” Do you think this is simply banter? Because most people, including another spotter, didn’t think it did.

According to Brett Griffin, it didn’t really have that “buddies” aspect to it. Insiders Brett Griffin and Freddie Kraft said that throwing an F-bomb is actually not that uncommon. And they do have such incidents happen. But, according to them, Larson’s reaction didn’t suggest that he took it lightly. Freddie Kraft noted that Larson did not have the playful ‘shut up’ response. Instead, it seemed like Monn had touched a nerve.

Brett Griffin particularly considered Monn’s action a rather risky one. On the ‘Door Bumper Clear’ podcast, he said, “But if you’re not buddies and you really pissed him off right there because you’re insinuating he’s not a good enough driver, hey, this is Kyle Larson, by the way. You know what I mean. I’m not going to say another guy’s name because people are so sensitive in the world today, but this could go spot off really quickly. You don’t want to deteriorate your relationship.”

But Griffin also mentioned that it could go both ways, recalling the time when something similar happened. He said he was seated beside Kevin Hamlin, the spotter for Alex Bowman. As it happened, Kevin was pissed at Clint Bowyer over something he said on the radio. He even went on to type a long message for Bowyer. Remembering his advice to his fellow spotter, Griffin said, “I told him a guy that makes 100 grand a year can’t text a guy that makes 10 million a year. You got to take your blows sometimes. He hit send on the message, and I thought, well, this is going to go one of two ways: you’re going to either get Clint’s respect, or he’s going to tell you off.” And well, Kevin Hamlin got Clint’s respect.

So the thing with Larson and Rick Hendrick’s $100,000 employee, Tyler Monn, could very well go both ways. As far as who is right and who isn’t in the story, Denny Hamlin himself has a take on this.