Denny Hamlin explains feud with Kyle Larson compared to Chase Elliott
It doesn’t make him the most popular driver, but Denny Hamlin has no shortage of rivalries with drivers over at Hendrick Motorsports.
In the past, Hamlin’s beefed with Alex Bowman, but his feuds with Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott have grabbed headlines in 2023. It’s led to an increased chorus of booing whenever Hamlin is in-front of a crowd, but the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman has leaned into it over the last year and change.
Speaking with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Hamlin elaborated on the differences in his feuds with Larson and Elliott, and how they’ve transpired over the course of the season.
“I think it is. It always is difficult to navigate on-track stuff with people that you have off-the-track relationships with because your team doesn’t care about that. Your team doesn’t care that you guys went to dinner last night,” Hamlin explained, regarding the differences of doing battle with a good-friend in Larson, and someone he doesn’t know as well in Elliott. “They care, like, we just spent overtime hours getting this car ready, we’re giving it our all, we’ve trained two-a-days on pit stops, we’ve gotten better — are you going to give everything you can to win this race for us or not? And if you don’t, then it’s really, really hard to keep them behind you.
“So I think I’m a good teammate. I’m not a great teammate. I’ve never been a great teammate because I’m too selfish. I want to win for myself and my team too much. And sometimes that puts strains on relationships I have with friends off the track. And so hopefully everyone understands that I’m just trying to do everything I can any weekend to win for my team because it means more to me to keep them behind me than anyone else.”
Alas, Hamlin recognizes the feuds are more personal than anything, but that won’t stop them from being a prevalent topic week-in and week-out at the track.
While Hamlin is enjoying a fantastic season, perhaps his battles with Larson and Elliott will come back to bite him in the end. If he needs a little extra room at Martinsville or Phoenix with the title on the line, he won’t be getting it from Hendrick Motorsports.
Nevertheless, it hasn’t hampered Denny Hamlin’s shine thus far in 2023. He’s the favorite for the NASCAR Cup Series title at the moment, and that won’t change until someone knocks him out of the top spot.