Denny Hamlin says Chase Elliott threw a 'hissy fit' after Hamlin forced him into the wall
Denny Hamlin went after Chase Elliott on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Tuesday, saying the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion threw a hissy fit before intentionally wrecking him during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Monday.
“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.”
NASCAR suspends Chase Elliott for intentionally dumping Denny Hamlin
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.
Hamlin doubled down on his criticism of Elliott, calling his actions on the racetrack immature.
“That is just so immature to right-rear hook someone. It’s just childish and it just pisses me off,” Hamlin said. “You gotta be better than that. … Chase Elliott made comments May 1 about how he felt how unsafe he felt the cars were. But yet, you think that’s OK. It doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.”