"I had an altercation with Bubba Wallace" - Denny Hamlin reveals little-known motorhome dispute with 23XI driver

Denny Hamlin recently shed light on an undisclosed altercation with 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace. Hamlin elaborated on the incident that occurred after the 2018 Daytona 500 and ultimately escalated into a physical confrontation.

On the final lap of the Daytona 500, Hamlin and Wallace were battling door-to-door for second place with Wallace edging ahead at the start-finish line. After crossing the checkered flag, both were involved in a wreck, with the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver insisting that the contact had cut his tires.

Wallace made some pointed comments after the race and bumped into Hamlin outside the media center which led to a heated exchange. While all of this was publicly known, some rumors suggested they had a physical altercation the following week.

In a recent interview with The Athletic reporter Jeff Gluck, Denny Hamlin opened up about the 2018 incident and confirmed that he was involved in a physical altercation with then-#43 Richard Petty Motorsports driver Bubba Wallace. He said:

"Yeah. I mean, I had an altercation with Bubba. I guess it was 2018. We wrecked after the checkered (while racing for second in the Daytona 500), and we started exchanging texts, and we got face-to-face after the race. There’s been a little bit of clips of that."

Hamlin added that the feud boiled over to the next race at Atlanta. He mentioned that he was fired up after an intense text exchange with Wallace, where he was challenged. This led to a confrontation in a motorhome.

The 23XI Racing co-owner said that he and Wallace had a private confrontation in the bus, with team members being alerted after the bus started "rocking." The team members eventually broke up the fight. Hamlin said:

"The mistake was made by the motorhome drivers and/or the friends who allowed us to go into the bus by ourselves after the challenge was dropped. The only way that they got alerted to it was the bus was rocking. (Laughs) And everyone just came busting in the front door."

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Denny Hamlin spoke about the aftermath of his confrontation with Bubba Wallace

Denny Hamlin mentioned in the same interview that his differences with Bubba Wallace were resolved as he later hired him to become the first driver for his and Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing team in 2021.

"It’s funny how the world works, though. Just a few years later, I hired him to be the first driver at 23XI. Everything I’ve gone through has been not only documented but magnified — but yeah, that one slipped under most of the radars for quite some time," Hamlin told Gluck.

The 43-year-old provided a fitting conclusion to the episode in a text message to Jeff Gluck, emphasizing that short-term differences between two people shouldn't affect their relationship in the long run.

Bubba Wallace has been with 23XI Racing since the team's inception and secured its first victory at Talladega. Overall, Wallace has contributed two victories to the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team.