Denny Hamlin fumes at Chase Elliott after wreck in Coca-Cola 600: ‘He shouldn’t be racing’
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Denny Hamlin called it a “tantrum,” and that was the nicest thing he had to say about Chase Elliott after the drivers crashed out of NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Monday.
Racing side-by-side on Lap 186 of the Cup Series’ longest race, Hamlin slid high exiting Turn 4 and forced Elliott up into the outside wall. Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet then came down and made contact with the right rear of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, sending Hamlin’s car head on into the wall.
Hamlin’s car was totaled, and Elliott’s car could not be repaired either, leaving both drivers with early exits and a trip to the infield care center, where they were evaluated and released. But when Hamlin emerged to speak to reporters, he was fuming at Elliott for what he considered a deliberate action.
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“I got right-rear hooked in the middle of the straightaway,” Hamlin said to reporters. “It’s a tantrum, and he shouldn’t be racing next week. Right rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable.”
Hamlin went on to compare the situation to an incident with Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson at during a playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last year that earned Wallace a one-race suspension.
“It is the same thing that Bubba Wallace did with Kyle Larson, exact same. He shouldn’t be racing,” Hamlin reiterated.
Elliott denied an deliberate action in his interview and lamented that for the second straight year he failed to finish the Memorial Day weekend race.
“The 11 ran us up in the fence there, and once you tear the right side off these things, it’s kind of over,” Ellliott said. “Once you hit the wall in these things, you can’t drive them anymore. Just an unfortunate circumstance.”
A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed the sanctioning body would investigate the incident between the cars.
Elliott missed six races earlier this year after breaking his tibia following a snowboarding accident in Colorado, prior the March 5 race at Las Vegas.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denny Hamlin fumes at Chase Elliott after wreck in Coca-Cola 600: ‘He shouldn’t be racing’