Denny Hamlin admits he would race Bubba Wallace differently after Kansas drama in hindsight: 'That is racing'

Denny Hamlin had a split second to make a decision of how he wanted to enter the final corner on the last lap of overtime of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway. Now that he’s had some time out of the race car, he feels he could have done some things differently.

As it played out, Hamlin entered Turn 3 nearly even with Bubba Wallace for the lead. Hamlin washed up the track and made contact with Wallace, who brushed the wall. That allowed Chase Elliott to drive by both of them on the bottom and take the checkered flag. Hamlin has since had the opportunity to further analyze the situation.

“I can analyze this now,” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “I have about a second to analyze this as I’m going down the backstretch. As a driver, what I’m trying to do is figure out angles. What angle am I going to take this corner, where is the guy beside me — all those things play a factor in how deep you can drive into a corner or how shallow you need to be or whatever.

“So, now that I can analyze this more out of the car and look at this more, again, while I’m in this car, in this cocoon going into Turn 3, I don’t even see the 23. I don’t know how close he is, I don’t know if he’s a car width up, is he right on my door. Those are all factors in how your car is going to take the next corner. And so, there are things I would do differently, no doubt about it.”

Bubba Wallace was upset with Denny Hamlin after Kansas race

Wallace was upset with Hamlin after the race. He flipped him the middle finger and later called him out. Of course, there are some interesting dynamics at play here. Hamlin is co-owner of 23XI Racing and driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. Wallace’s boss is Hamlin.

The way Hamlin views it, he was the dominant car all day and was racing for the win. This was Hamlin the driver going up against a fellow competitor in Wallace. Hamlin went into more detail of what he could have done differently, though he called it “Monday morning quarterbacking.”

“Had I seen what I see now, no question I would have backed off early because I would have thought, ‘You know what, he’s probably going to overdrive the corner, and I’ll just get back by him on the exit.’ But man, that’s Monday morning quarterbacking,” Hamlin said. “There’s no way in that split second decision, I don’t know that he’s right there and I have no gap between our cars. Had I known we had no gap between our cars, I would have known my car is about go straight, but I had no way of knowing that.

“I had no way to know, so I entered the corner the same amount to the same point I always let off, and my car went dead straight. And it’s because of the aero situation I was in. I was closer to the 23 than I had budgeted for. Unfortunately, it took us both up the track, I took him up the track, he bounced off the wall, I slowed down enough that we gave the 9 car the win. But that is racing, and I’m not gonna apologize for trying to win the race that the 11 car was the most deserving car to win that race, without a doubt.”

Denny Hamlin won’t apologize for last lap move at Kansas

Hamlin led a race-high 159 laps, and he was looking for win No. 60 of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Hamlin was racing for the win and that, he won’t apologize for.

“My mentality into the last corner was, I hope I win,” Hamlin said. “I’ve got 70 races left in my career. Three opportunities left to win a championship. I can win a championship as an owner for decades. The window is closing. Sixty is right in front of me at the track I got my very first start.

“Like, I want to be sympathetic, and I am sympathetic and I hate it that the 23 is below the cut, but 23XI ran like dogsh*t at f*cking New Hampshire and that’s why they’re below the cut. And I hate that for the drivers because unfortunately they had to drive that.”