Denny Hamlin reacts to Kyle Larson-Ryan Blaney incident at Gateway: 'Clearly misjudged it'

Ryan Blaney got spun by Kyle Larson with six laps to go in Stage 2 of Sunday’s Round of 16 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Gateway. Blaney wasn’t happy, and he spoke with Larson on pit road after the race.

Larson, who sent his car deep into Turn 3, washed up the track and got into the left side door of Blaney’s car. Larson admitted he “misjudged” the move. Denny Hamlin agreed with that assessment, though he knew exactly what Larson was intending to do.

“He goes in hard, doesn’t he? … He clearly misjudged it,” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “You could see what he was trying to do because he did it the lap before. He went from the bottom to the top and what he’s trying to do is get his right front fender right on the door of the 12 into the corner, so it forces the 12 to lift because he gets a tight moment on corner exit. Now, the 5 can maintain side-by-side with him down the straightaway. Otherwise, if he doesn’t do that, the 12, because of the line he’s running, the 5 is going to have a really tough time getting beside the 12 any way, except for he’s going to have to have a much faster car or he’s going to have to shift his line slightly.

“There’s no way the 5 comes off the corner remotely with any speed to stay beside the 12. All he’s trying to do is go up there and slow the 12 down by ramming air to his left side door. He misjudged it by like eight feet. I mean, it was a lot. It’s a mistake. We’ve seen some Larson mistakes here lately.”

Ryan Blaney spins late in stage two after contact with Kyle Larson!

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Denny Hamlin questions Kyle Larson move attempt on Ryan Blaney

It was an aggressive move by Larson, who was hoping to get by Blaney for P5 at the end of the stage. Hamlin has been there before and knows it’s tough for Larson being the car on the bottom in that situation. However, Hamlin felt it was an “unnecessary move” to make.

“There is a moment — some are more aware of that moment, I don’t know. I get into guys left side doors all the time because I misjudge. It’s tough for me to say,” Hamlin said. “This job is really, really hard. I can’t emphasize that enough, and I’m not trying to stick up for him, but I will tell you that in the car, when you’re trying to run close on somebody and you’re on the inside, you have the most stuff blocking your view. The headrest is bigger on the right side — to see him, you’ve almost got to peek to get a feel for where your right front fender is, and then you’re trying to identify where their car is. A lot of it is you’re doing it off of feel, and your spotter is probably telling you he’s two lengths up. You’re all trying to time it.

“It’s way easier when the person you’re trying to side draft is on the left side because it’s all right there in front of you. You can see it, you’ve got the window net there that you can see holes through. It’s difficult, it’s just that was an extremely high-risk move that was gonna put the 12 in an extremely tough spot that I don’t know it was necessary. It was probably an unnecessary move, and he probably wishes he could do it again.”

Ryan Blaney on Kyle Larson incident: ‘That’s just one I gotta remember’

Blaney recovered to finish fourth, while Larson finished P12. The two drivers talked it out, but Blaney won’t forget this one.

“I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it. He just said he made a mistake, and you know, yeah that’s fine, make mistakes. But at the end of the day, I still got turned,” Blaney said. “He came from all the way on the bottom of the racetrack and hit me in the left rear. I know he most likely didn’t mean to do it, but it happened anyway.

So, that’s just one I gotta remember, but I was happy we bounced back. After getting turned around and did a good job of kinda timing out where we needed to be and having a good enough car to get back to fourth.”