Denny Hamlin reacts to 'disaster' moment on restart after making big save at Michigan

The start of Stage 2 was almost the end of the race for Denny Hamlin. He had to take evasive maneuvers to stay out of the wall. Starting P2 after Stage 1 in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan, Hamlin had to focus and get his elbows up to save his car.

Denny Hamlin was passed early on in the Stage 2 run. As Kyle Larson got on his outside going out of Turn 2, the two frenemies touched. Then, Hamlin got loose exiting the corner. It was almost the end for the 11 team.

However, the three-time Daytona 500 winner had other plans. While he got passed by multiple cars right after, the speed of Michigan allowed Hamlin to fight back on the next straightaway.

“Well that was a f***ing disaster,” Hamlin said on the radio via Davey Segal of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. A close call indeed.

Hang on, @dennyhamlin! 🫣 pic.twitter.com/sg0LxD1Uo8

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 8, 2025

Kyle Larson was less than happy about Denny Hamlin getting into him during this exchange. Those two are always getting into each other and going back and forth with one another. Today was the latest example of the 5 and 11 trading paint.

This race at Michigan pushes drivers to their limits. The speeds are intense, and you can push air on other cars, side draft, and make huge runs going down the backstretch and frontstretch.

Even when you see a car slip up like Denny Hamlin, they can fight back in the next turn or coming out of the turns onto the straights. There is going to be a lot of action as this race continues to go on, and we see more drivers make mistakes on track.

Kyle Larson tells Denny Hamlin to look out his windshield

When we see Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson near each other, it is almost always a good time. At least, for the fans at home. They probably hate to see each other out on the track because they know that the other one is going to make things incredibly difficult.

Right after the contact between Larson and Hamlin, Yung Money keyed up on the radio. He was fuming at his golf buddy and NASCAR rival.

“Look out the f***ing windshield, Denny, instead of the f***ing mirror,” Larson complained. Well, that’s a good point.

With all of the restarts in this race, the battles have been intense. Drivers know the restarts are where they have to make up spots because no one is going to make it easy on them in traffic. However, we have seen these restarts cause more wrecks already today.

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson are renewing their rivalry a bit today. Let’s hope we see more action between the 11 and the 5.