Denny Hamlin hasn't spoken with Chase Elliott, says he was angry enough to fight him

On3 imageby:Nick Geddes05/30/23

NickGeddesNews

Denny Hamlin
(Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin was so incensed after Chase Elliott intentionally dumped him during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Monday that he wanted to fight the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Hamlin revealed his full emotions during the Tuesday edition of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“No, [I haven’t spoken to Elliott] I was so mad, and I’m really really mad now, I was — I couldn’t see straight. I didn’t think I would pass my concussion test because I’m like, I can’t see straight. I am so on fire, if he walks through that door I — I don’t know — I’m just gonna take a swing and if I get my ass whooped, I get my ass whooped… Don’t care because that was just absolutely wrong in every single way. It’s wrong. And so, NASCAR needs to do the right thing and be consistent here…

“It’s time to make the right call. There’s no excuse you can give. He was going dead straight and all of a sudden turns left 120 degrees with the steering wheel. That is not an accident, it is intentional.”

Hamlin got his wish. NASCAR suspended Elliott for intentionally dumping Hamlin on Lap 186. Elliott, who missed six races earlier this season recovering from a leg injury, will miss a seventh — the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway this Sunday. Though he sits 29th in the points standings, Elliott will need to request a waiver to remain eligible for the playoffs.

The crash occurred on the front stretch after Elliott made contact with the wall coming out of Turn 4 with Hamlin beside him. Elliott appeared to take exception with being squeezed against the wall by Hamlin, and responded by deliberately hooking him.

Denny Hamlin says Chase Elliott threw a ‘hissy fit’

Hamlin continued in his criticism of Elliott, saying he threw a “hissy fit.”

“There’s no possible explanation that he could possibly give — which he didn’t — of reason for hanging a left,” Hamlin said. “You know, he obviously didn’t want to admit it. He did the ‘Ahh I can’t hear you, sorry I can’t hear what you’re saying, but yeah, my car, just couldn’t drive it.’ Bulls—. The f—— wheels were dead straight. Even after we crashed and like, destroyed our s—, he goes down the back straightaway. And look at both tires. Front tires are pointing the correct direction. And I pointed out in the data that I tweeted that once he got into the wall, there was nothing wrong with his car.

“He turned the wheel back straight like he was going down the straightaway. And you can tell by data whether you’ve got toe link damage or not. So you can tell that basically if your line is skewed one direction or another where you had to turn it left, turn it right where the bent a toe link or done significant damage.

“For God sakes, Tyler Reddick pounded the wall twice as hard as he did and didn’t hurt his car. Everyone hits the wall, but he threw a hissy fit and he just hung a left on us [on] the most dangerous part of the racetrack that you possibly could. It ended my day and in my opinion, he shouldn’t be racing next weekend because NASCAR set a precedent last year on this.”