“Kyle Larson has taken that to heart”: NASCAR insider believes HMS star’s incident with Denny Hamlin a product of last week’s radio message

The recent race in Nashville turned out to be another chapter in the rivalry between Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. Last week at New Hampshire, Larson was told by his spotter that Hamlin races him a certain way because he lets him. As a result, Larson lost his temper over the radio and told Tyler Monn, his spotter, to "shut the f**k up."

But this message by Monn could've played into the on-track attitude of Kyle Larson in racing Denny Hamlin, as per Jeff Gluck. Speaking on The Teardown, Gluck spoke about the late-race incident between Larson and Hamlin, how he wanted to see more of it, and how Monn's words from last week could've triggered Larson to race the way he did.

"Denny Hamlin lost his cool there, wanting to bump him or something. Afterwards, he kind of downplayed it on his TV interview at least. But it seems like, Larson, despite him not liking what Tyler Monn said in the moment last week, I think Larson has taken that to heart, says, 'I'm going to race Denny really hard.' I think Denny has raced Larson really hard and they're going to keep doing it," Gluck described (36:36).

He also mentioned that people on social media were accusing him of stirring stuff up. However, according to Gluck, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson fighting on the racetrack is a big positive, and it hasn't come to an end.

"These are two of the best guys going at it and it's not the end of the chapter.' When they compete for wins, they're going to have it out and they're going to run into each other, they're not going to give each other an inch," he said.

According to Gluck's prediction, the Brickyard 400 will most likely come down to a late race restart involving Larson and Hamlin, who will likely edge each other out, wreck each other, and give the victory to the third-place car.

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What did Denny Hamlin say about Kyle Larson after the race at Nashville?

In a post-race interview, Denny Hamlin spoke about his incidents with Kyle Larson during the race. Hamlin claimed what happened to Larson was "an eye for an eye," considering what happened at New Hampshire last week.

"I ran him up track a little bit last week, and he ran me up track this week and it's all good. It's all fun," Hamlin told Bob Pockrass.

As for what Kyle Larson said, the Hendrick Motorsports driver thought Hamlin was upset with him for the way he raced in the second stage, which to him was simply "racing." Larson went on to say that although Hamlin is sometimes "not the fairest" in their races, he and Hamlin can also race well together.

Larson, however, insisted that their rivalry is not ongoing and expressed hope that they will soon be able to put it behind them so that the #11 driver will respect him more.