“There was a winner and a loser and he got the losing end”: Denny Hamlin reacts to Kyle Larson incident at Pocono

Denny Hamlin's popularity in the NASCAR world lately might be pleasing or offending you depending on your alliance with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. In what has been a controversial 50th victory for the #11 Toyota Camry TRD driver last weekend at Pocono Raceway, the NASCAR fraternity is certainly divided on the alleged hypocrisy of the Tampa, Florida native.

Fans of the sport who support Kyle Larson might be agitated at Hamlin for pulling a 'dirty' move on the Hendrick Motorsports driver last Sunday. Or if you are a Denny Hamlin fan, you'd be cheering at the top of your voice, or vice-versa, who knows?

In an attempt to clarify this dilemma, the 42-year-old driver on a recent episode of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio elaborated on how he looks at his move on Larson and fandom in the sport in general. He said:

"I understand when you're a fan of someone else, that is your allegiance and it doesn't matter what happens with them, if things don't go your way there's blame to be placed somewhere. It doesn't reside with your fandom to one person or manufacturer. I get all that. I don't expect Kyle Larson to get out and be happy. There was a winner and there was a loser and he got the losing end of a racing deal."

Whether the definition of a 'racing deal' is different depending on which end of the stick Denny Hamlin finds himself on, is for you to judge.

Is Denny Hamlin finally embracing his inner Kyle Busch?

As pointed out by several fans of the sport, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin seems to be finally getting on terms with being booed at racetracks. Pocono Raceway, a track where Hamlin has been popular in the past, was the venue to boo him the most recently.

Speaking on how fans' judgment of incidents on the track does not change the result of a race, it seems like Kyle Busch leaving JGR has shifted the no holds barred attitude from the former driver to Denny Hamlin. His comments on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio certainly echo that. He said:

"Racing is Racing and they (the fans) should want us to go out there and be aggressive every single time, it doesn't matter whether we're friends or teammates or whatever. There's a lot of drivers that don't care about making friends on that racetrack and they won a lot of races because of it."

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