Denny Hamlin thinks Kyle Busch 'clearly' had the roughest weekend after hitting wreck trifecta

Picking a standout of Monday’s Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is easy — obviously Martin Truex Jr., who led 254-of-301 laps en route to picking up his third victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season. Picking the biggest loser was just as easy for Denny Hamlin.

Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Tuesday, Hamlin said that Kyle Busch had the “roughest weekend” of anyone in the field after accomplishing the wreck trifecta.

“One person who had the roughest weekend was Kyle Busch,” Hamlin said. “… To wreck in practice and then wreck in the race — that’s called the trifecta. Practice, qualifying and race… He said he fought rear grip all weekend. Didn’t have any of it, and yeah — they had a rough week.”

As Hamlin pointed out, his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate wrecked three times over the weekend — in practice, qualifying and during the race. Busch hit the wall on the final lap of Stage 1 after getting loose going into the corner. His No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team was unable to get the car back on the track, resulting in Busch finishing a season-low 36th.

“No,” Busch said after the race, via Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “I’ve been lacking right-rear grip the whole time we’ve been here. Just couldn’t get the right-rear feel in the race track. You’re just going along trying to keep it under you as much as you can. It was getting late in the run, and I was trying a different line and it was just too high. I didn’t like to be that high on entry. I couldn’t give it wheel and have the right-rear stick with the lateral grip that you need.”

Denny Hamlin reacts to how Next Gen cars handled the New Hampshire Motor Speedway track

Hamlin, meanwhile, continued his consistent 2023 campaign Monday with a P7 result. His Crayon 301 performance saw him catapult to fourth in the points standings with six races remaining before the Cup Series playoffs begin in September.

Hamlin said that while his car was sideways for much of the beginning portion of the race, it got better as the race went on.

“I was thinking when we went there that oh, man. Goodyear said they brought a tire that’s got more grip,” Hamlin said. “So we’re going to be faster on the short run. We’re going to be slower on the long run. And it was like oh, man, I can’t touch the gas from Lap 1. Like it’s just sideways and really, the more laps I ran, the better it got.”