Denny Hamlin has opened up about his friendship with rival Kyle Larson. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver who was once good mates with the Hendrick Motorsports driver shed light on their distancing on-track relationship and being fine with it.
According to the 54x Cup Series race winner, the brewing rivalry between him and the 2021 Cup champion is good and much-needed as it will benefit both drivers and their teams when they race hard against each other. Thus, it would enhance the allure of motorsports racing and would be cherished by the fans.
"We've been friends off the race track for a very long time. I think that our friendship was always better before we started competing for the race wins against each other," Hamlin said via The Kenny Wallace Show on X (0:25).
He continued:
"What I learned over time though is that it is very difficult to keep a friendship on the racetrack as well and I think that you have to be able to separate those two things. While I think now our relationship is not as close as it once was, I kind of wish it was, but I'm also okay if it isn't."
"Because I think we need to continue to push as much as we can to win for ourselves and our team. The fans would lose out if we're not able to separate those two things," the JGR driver added (0:57).
Hamlin and Larson's on-track rivalry has gone a step further from the past two years. After their major run-in at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 2022, which destroyed both of their runs, a bunch of races witnessed the duo getting entangled.
On the final lap run at the Kansas Speedway last year, while the #5 Chevy was sent into the wall after the contact with Denny Hamlin's #11 Toyota, the latter sealed a win.
This year at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, when the JGR driver deliberated the HMS driver to the high side to make a pass, no retaliation from the latter received a brutal jibe from his spotter Tyler Monn. However, Larson vented his anger on Monn and replied "Shut the f*ck up."
On the 19th Cup Series weekend at the Nashville Superspeedway- the race which went into five overtime restarts before Joey Logano mastered fuel saving to clinch his maiden win this season- Kyle Larson's on-track game felt slightly different.
After his expletive exchange with Monn at New Hampshire, the HMS driver tried to force Denny Hamlin during the second overtime in the Music City but wrecked into Ross Chastain and shattered the latter's odds of marking his first win in 2024.
"I just don't understand why it's such a big deal now"- Denny Hamlin on getting targeted by HMS for pulling a move similar to Kyle Larson's
With his strong mettle to ace the race and sideline the rivals obstructing his pursuit, Denny Hamlin has made quite a name for himself as one of the most unforgiving drivers on the asphalt. The recent example was in New Hampshire when Monn schooled Larson, but the #11 Toyota's move birthed the heated exchange between the spotter and the #5 driver.
While talking with Kenny Wallace, Denny Hamlin outlined that just like he "move[s] up the racetrack three or four feet" to overtake the rival, the HMS driver has also been practicing the same for decades. Hamlin unfurled his confusion about why the #5 team has a problem with his driving style now despite it being similar to that of Larson.
"I guess I'm just confused a little bit on why the group [#5] is so upset when I move up the racetrack three or four feet for the win. This is the way, in my opinion, Kyle has made passes for decades and so I just don't understand why it's such a big deal now," Hamlin said. (3.15).
While the duo shares a good off-track relationship, the recent rise in their on-track wrecks might've initiated cracks in their friendship, and considering that Kyle Larson's team is unhappy with Denny Hamlin's race-style, the playoff battle between the two driver and their teams is anticipated to be an exhilarating one.