Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson at Auto Club Speedway
Denny Hamlin scorned by NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi
Shane Walters
Kyle Larson was involved in a crash with Hamlin that took the Chip Ganassi Racing driver out of the race at Auto Club Speedway
Over the weekend, NASCAR visited Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Californa.
Following issues, Denny Hamlin was forced to start at the rear. Early in the event, he was in a charge to the front.
Hamlin locked onto the rear bumper of Kyle Larson. The two tandem drafted down the front stretch and opened a gap to Kevin Harvick behind them.
As they approached turn one, they were closing in on Erik Jones in a hurry. Larson may have checked up early or he just got loose off the nose of Hamlin.
Either way, Larson ended up in the outside wall and struggled for the remainder of the event. Larson’s day was basically over following the contact.
Shortly after the incident, Hamlin jumped on the radio and noted that thought he was being pushed by Harvick to cause the incident. As you can see in the video below, that was not the case but and easy misjudgment at 200mph.
Hamlin and Larson
Away from the track, these two are good friends. They’re also in a golf league together.
After the race, Hamlin shared a video where he and Larson were out grocery shopping together. Hamlin ran his cart into the rear of Larson as they walked together through the grocery store.
To me, that was a funny video that told the fans it was all good between the two drivers.
However, Chip Ganassi is the car owner for Kyle Larson with millions of dollars on the race track every week. Understandably, he did not find the humor in the video.
Chip Ganassi tweeted, “Hey Denny Hamlin, I have a building full of people including myself that do not think that’s funny.”