He is loved by many, hated by even more, but he is certainly seldom ignored. Despite being one of the most senior and accomplished drivers in NASCAR, Denny Hamlin has not lost even a touch of his fire.
Be it with his words, actions, or performances, Hamlin is edgy with it all. His actions have, however, gotten him into trouble on several occasions, and the JGR driver has had to face the heat for them.
Something similar happened at the AdventHealth 400 in Kansas. Hamlin’s gesture towards his contemporary Alex Bowman absolutely infuriated the HMS driver, who did not hold back even a bit while responding on his radio.
Denny Hamlin’s Gesture at Alex Bowman
Hamlin started the race in the 14th position, while Bowman was seven spots behind him at 21. However, the latter quickly picked up pace and ran among the top 10 drivers early in the race.
Following a tire caution on lap 14, Hamlin and Bowman had to visit the pit stop. After the restart, Bowman quickly regained his spot with the lap leaders, while Hamlin struggled to move up and ran outside the top 20.
As Stage 1 neared its end, Hamlin stepped on the gas and passed several cars to move among the top 10. Bowman’s teammate, Kyle Larson, won the stage while he was ranked sixth, and Hamlin grabbed the seventh position.
As stage 2 ripened, on lap 95, Zane Smith, Bowman, and Hamlin competed for the seventh spot as they ran three-wide. Bowman, who was on the inside, was ultimately squeezed and had to sustain minor damage.
Although the damage was far from critical, Bowman still lost his pace. Following the incident, Hamlin took a pass at Bowman and, in doing so, he slyly waved at the HMS driver. This did not sit well with Bowman at all. The No. 17 driver was furious after Hamlin’s actions and cursed at him on his radio.
He said, “Tell [Denny Hamlin] to put his f*****g hand back in the window and don’t run me into the f*****g fence next time!”
Then, on lap 130, Hamlin’s pit stop took a little longer than expected. This cost him a few spots as a penalty. However, he recovered from it quickly and finished the second stage in the eighth spot, while Bowman held the same sixth spot.
Then on lap 197, Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota had a technical failure in the second consecutive week. This, once again, ended the race early for Hamlin. Bowman ran strong for the rest of the race and was in the top-5 drivers in the final few laps at Kansas.
Kyle Larson ultimately took home the win, followed by Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney. Bowman finished the race in the 5th position after leading two laps.
After the race, Bowman briefly appeared in front of the camera for a word and addressed his angry outburst. He said:
“We were as fast as we were before that stage break, and then to just get driven in the fence on the restart — like it’s really frustrating. So from then on out, I was really mad because I’m like I had the best race car I’ve ever had here at Kansas, and now it has half as much rear grip and half as much front grip. It did everything worse.”