Denny Hamlin 'doesn't love' Bubba Wallace's pit road incident with Aric Almirola

Denny Hamlin wasn’t a fan of seeing Bubba Wallace getting into an altercation with Aric Almirola on pit road during a red flag rain delay in Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The 23XI Racing co-owner shared his thoughts of the incident, in which Almirola shoved Wallace, on the Tuesday episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“Certainly as his car owner, I don’t love it at all,” Hamlin said. “I mean, just keep your hands in your car. That’s what kind of got him and [Alex] Bowman into it, you know, last week it was the hand gesture, like, just stop it. Just stop it… You’ve got some positive momentum on the racetrack — let’s just chill for a little while and take the dubs when you get them. And that’s just running well…

“He’s just doing fantastic on the racetrack, I hate that we’re talking about this for sure.”

The two made contact with each other just prior to rain bringing out the red flag in Stage 2. Contact occurred after Wallace cut in front of Almirola in a multi-car battle. Almirola responded by running Wallace up the track before making contact with the No. 23 Chevrolet.

Both drivers engaged in an argument on pit road which led to Almirola shoving Wallace before NASCAR officials intervened.

Here's the video of Aric shoving Bubba https://t.co/TvXRS4KYSV

— Sarah Davis 🏁🤫 Bubba EXtReMiSt | #23in23 edition (@sarahdavisagain) May 29, 2023

“Just early in the race. I felt like I was running him pretty clean and I felt like he was racing me pretty dirty,” Almirola said, via NASCAR.com. “He run me all over the racetrack and then he got by me and he shot me the bird so I just went to ask him ‘why are you throwing me the bird‘, like I gave him a lot of room and gave him a lot of respect and he started mouthing off and just saying a lot of bad things and cussing.

“I got my point across. I let him know that it‘s not acceptable. He‘s not gonna cuss at me and shoot me the bird.”

Bubba Wallace explains pit road incident with Aric Almirola

Wallace, meanwhile, told Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports he wasn’t surprised by Almirola’s shove.

“Just passion,” Wallace said. “We’re racing hard during the second stage and we finished fourth, so, it was a good day… When you walk around with two faces, that’s what you get.

Almirola entered Monday sitting 26th in the points standings, having notched just one top-10 in 13 starts. He finished P25 at Charlotte. Wallace, meanwhile, continued his streak of success. He finished P4, recording his third consecutive top-five.