NASCAR insiders weigh in on latest Kyle Larson-Denny Hamlin dust-up
Hamlin won at Pocono after forcing Larson high into the turn 1 wall on a late restart, and Larson said the contact resembled Hamlin's earlier incident with Ross Chastain at the same track.
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway after making aggressive contact with Kyle Larson on a late-race restart, forcing Larson high into the turn 1 wall, according to CBS Sports coverage published July 26, 2023. The contact damaged Larson's car and dropped the Hendrick Motorsports driver to a 21st-place finish.
Larson said afterward the move mirrored a prior Hamlin incident with driver Ross Chastain at the same track, per CBS Sports. "He's still a friend. But races me like an assh--e," Larson said, adding, "I haven't done that to Denny. So, I don't think I deserve to be run into." It was the second time the two drivers had made contact that season, with a similar incident having occurred at Kansas in May, according to the same report.
Hamlin disputed that any contact occurred at all. "I put both those guys in an aero situation. Didn't touch either one. How can you wreck someone you don't touch?" he said, per CBS Sports. Larson, for his part, put a figure on what the run-ins had cost him over the season: "I could have two more wins, 10 more playoff points, if not the 11."
A booed victory lane
The win was met with loud boos from fans in victory lane, CBS Sports reported. Hamlin dismissed the reaction: "I'm just too old to care. Fandom doesn't give me trophies." On the racing itself, Hamlin defended the aggression as earned track position: "I wanted to race side by side because I earned the spot of beside him."
What the coverage does not resolve
The CBS Sports account frames the incident as a continuation of tension between the two drivers rather than a single isolated flashpoint, but it does not include a named NASCAR official's ruling on whether the contact was intentional, nor any penalty assessed against Hamlin. Those specifics were not established in the source reviewed for this restoration.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by CBS Sports. It restores a story originally published on this site in July 2023; figures are as reported at the time.