Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have had a few squabbles on the track recently, particularly during Sunday’s race in New Hampshire.
Racing toward the front of the pack, as they normally do, the two slammed doors for several laps. At one point, Larson’s spotter, Tyler Monn, radioed him, “He runs you like that every time, you know why, because you let it happen.” Larson was offended by Monn’s statements and told him to shut up.
“Shut the f*** up,” Larson instructed Monn.
During the most recent episode of “The Teardown,” Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic examined Larson and Hamlin’s on-track fight and agreed that Hamlin has consistently outperformed Larson over the years.
“He ends up telling his spotter to shut the f up when he got kinda muscled up around by Denny Hamlin,” according to Gluck. “Obviously, there is a lot of history between Larson and Hamlin. It’s a sore area for the 5 crew, isn’t it? Out of all the 1-2 finishes those guys have had, Larson has never beaten Hamlin. So he always seems to get the wrong end of it, and Tyler Monn basically said, ‘You know why it happens, it’s because you let him push you around.’ And Larson replied, ‘Shut the f up.'”
Denny Hamlin denies having a rivalry with Kyle Larson.
Bianchi said that because Larson hasn’t exhibited any opposition to Hamlin up to this point, it appears like Hamlin knows he can take advantage of it and hence continues to use him up on the track.
“Kyle has been on the wrong end of this a few times, and I don’t want to speak for Denny Hamlin, but it appears that Denny understands, ‘Hey, I’m gonna capitalize. I know you aren’t going to get me back; I’m going to eat you up. “That’s how it always is,” Bianchi remarked. “We hear this all the time with rookies: if you don’t stand up for yourself, you’ll get bullied. And why wouldn’t Denny Hamlin or someone else want to rough up Kyle Larson? There’s nothing in Kyle Larson’s racing DNA that indicates he’ll come back and tear you up in response.”
During Monday’s “Actions Detrimental,” Hamlin discussed his most recent confrontations with Larson, blaming it on two competitors not giving each other an inch.
“It’s not [a rivalry],” Hamlin explained. “I like Kyle, and listen, just watch the race; we all do this to each other all the time.” I’m not sure why there’s an emphasis; is it because we’re always up front? Maybe that’s it, but the 5 and 12 [Ryan Blaney] raced each other up the track. It’s racing, short-track racing—get over it.”
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