"I didn’t think that was ever in doubt" - Denny Hamlin comments on ex-teammate Kyle Busch's Truck win at Atlanta

Denny Hamlin recently shared his thoughts on his former teammate Kyle Busch's Atlanta win in the Truck Series. The Richard Childress Racing driver, who finished Sunday's race in 7th place, had a bright start to his weekend.

Driving behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports' #7 truck, Kyle Busch won his 67th Truck race on Sunday, February 23. Along with his wins, Busch has also won the pole position 23 times and finished inside the top 10 on 142 occasions.

Speaking about Busch's most recent win in the Truck Series, Denny Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental that it was 'clinical' how the former #18 driver for Joe Gibbs Racing went about his business.

"You could see that all race he was planning passes, timing passes, and to me even on the last lap where Stewart Friesen was at, he knew how to time it to get the lunge at the start/finish line. Kyle just knows that through so much experience. When I saw Stewart Friesen ahead coming off Turn 4, it’s like, 'Oh this is not going to end well for him.' When you get slightly ahead of the car or truck that’s beside you, their front end is just dumping air right on their spoiler and it drags them back like a parachute," Hamlin said [59:00].

He claimed that when one is coming off the corner, the ideal scenario is to be the person that's behind, dumping the air, and getting the lunge at the start/finish line.

"I didn’t think that win was ever in doubt for Kyle," Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin respects 'the hell out of' Kyle Busch and his talent

Before Kyle Busch moved to his current team, RCR, he spent a big chunk of his NASCAR career as the #18 driver for JGR, being the teammate of Denny Hamlin. The #11 driver has also spent his career so far at coach Gibbs' team, making his Cup debut in 2006.

The duo of Hamlin and Busch became teammates when Busch joined JGR from Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. During his time at Gibbs, Busch won two Cup championships and 56 Cup races.

Speaking about Kyle Busch, his relationship with the #8 driver, and how competitive they were, Denny Hamlin said in an interview last year:

"My respect for Kyle is pretty high. I really have a ton of respect for Kyle, I almost envision our relationship very similar to mine and Tony Stewart’s where we actually became better friends when we were not teammates."

He mentioned that when he and Busch were teammates, the competition between them was 'too much.' Having said that, Denny Hamlin clarified that the competition was a 'friendly one', but one which was fierce.

Hamlin emphasized that he respects 'the hell out of' Kyle Busch's talent, who he deemed as 'a gifted driver' who can make the most out of any equipment he has.