Kyle Larson had issues with what Denny Hamlin did to him during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
During the second stage of the Iowa Corner 350, Hamlin made contact with Larson and didn’t like it. “What the hell was that for?” Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels told him to stay out of there because Larson had the fastest car, according to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass. Larson started the race first, finished the first stage second and finished the second stage first.
Hamlin had a slow start and finished 34th after the first stage, but recovered in the second stage to finish 6th. Larson is looking for his second straight win after finishing first at Sonoma last week.
After the Sonoma race, Larson talked about the strategy he used to win. “Well, I didn’t know what I was doing strategy-wise,” he said. “I just went out there and did some laps. I don’t know, we study the whole strategy but it’s like homework.
I don’t really know what I’m looking at.
“I thought, Oh, oh, they might have to pit again. Then I said we have to race and pass these guys, I got a little nervous.
I knew I would be fast from the start, but I thought I would be too slow once the tyres got to temperature.”
Denny Hamlin weighs in on Kyle Larson’s playoff waiver
Hamlin has some interesting thoughts on Larson getting a playoff exemption from NASCAR after missing the Coca-Cola 600.
The 43-year-old driver spoke about the matter on the “Actions Detrimental” podcast and said Larson should be given an exemption. “A couple of people at JGR asked me this question. … They said, ‘Do you think he should get an exemption?’ And I immediately said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And they were like, ‘Really?’ What if you want to race Le Mans next year?” Would I be exempt?’ I said, ‘Hmm, that’s a good point. What are the big events? There’s a lot of big events,'” Hamlin said. “Well, Kyle didn’t miss this to race a high-limit race.
You know, he missed this to race the Indy 500. “I don’t know how you feel about NASCAR choosing Indy over the Coke 600, but I think you’d be hard pressed to convince me that the Coke 600 is a bigger event than the Indy 500.
Is there anyone who would make that argument?”
