Denny Hamlin reacts to Ty Dillon upsetting him in NASCAR bracket, epic post-race troll

Ty Dillon had every right to take a victory lap after Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway. Dillon, the No. 32 seed in the inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge, finished a season-high eighth in Atlanta, advancing past No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin.

After the race, Dillon had a message for Hamlin and his fanbase: “For all you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out.”

It was quite the dig at Hamlin, who has become known for saying, “I just beat your favorite driver” after some of his wins over the years. Hamlin, however, got a kick out of it. He implored fans to let Dillon have his moment, congratulating the Kaulig Racing driver on beating him.

“I see people giving Ty Dillon a lot of flak… give him his moment, people. He beat me,” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “… He was ahead of me the whole f*cking race. I was 33rd until we crashed. Just let him have his moment. He texted me — he was like, ‘Hey, I was just playing around.’ I loved it. If you people think that you are going to hurt my feelings by coming in my mentions and saying, ‘Haha, Ty Dilon beat you,’ like, you’re never going to make fun of me more than I’m going to make fun of myself. You’re not going to offend me. I have really thick skin.

“You open yourself up and when you do that, the moments you fail, they’re going to give it to you. But you’ve got to be a big boy and take it. I am going to take it from Ty Dillon.”

Ty Dillon upsets Denny Hamlin in Round 1 of In-Season Challenge

On paper, this looked to be a sure win for Hamlin. The tale of the tape showed a 57-time Cup Series winner [Hamlin) versus a driver sitting 33rd in the points standings (Dillon). But professional sports aren’t decided on a piece of paper; in this case, it was decided through 400 miles on the racetrack.

Those who not only picked Hamlin to move past Dillon, but win the entire tournament, were devastated after Hamlin crashed out in the 23-car wreck on Lap 69. Hamlin underwent repairs in the garage before returning to the track 109 laps down. It wasn’t long after that Hamlin called it a night. He officially finished 31st. Dillon had plenty of time to think about what he was going to say.

“The guy had two hours to think about his acceptance speech,” Hamlin said. “In the car, he sees me on the wrecker and he’s like, ‘Ah, I sure hope they interview me after this race.’ … Listen, this is the unpredictability of putting us on a speedway race.”