NASCAR insiders comment on the recent incident involving Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and the rivalry

The rivalry between Denny Hamlin And Kyle Larson was the subject of much debate after another afternoon of incidents between the two during the Ally 400 in Nashville.

Once again, neither driver was happy with the other after Sunday’s race, and Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi spoke in the latest episode of The teardown for Dirty Mo Media. NASCAR insiders had some fascinating views and believe the Hamlin Larson thing is far from over.

“So, I mentioned Hamlin and Larson, obviously they had a little altercation again. When they lined up on the front row in one of those overtimes, it actually looked like I was thinking, ‘Man, those two are not going to finish this race.’ … I thought they could take each other out. … I would have liked to see them finish because I think that would have been another chapter in their rivalry. But still, Hamlin lost his nerve there and wanted to ram him afterward or something,” Gluck explained. “He kind of downplayed it, at least in his TV interview, but I think it seems like Larson, even though he didn’t like what Tyler Monn said in the moment last week, took it to heart and said, ‘I’m going to compete hard against Denny.’ I think Denny competes hard against Larson and they’re going to continue to do so. … Those are two of the best guys going to compete. This is not the end of the chapter.

“If they’re fighting for the win, they’re going to fight it out and run into each other. They’re not going to give each other an inch. I can just imagine the Brickyard 400 probably coming down to those two guys. Late restart of the race, them pushing each other into Turn 1. They’re going to crash and third place is going to win or whatever.”

Throughout the season, Larson and Hamlin have been the most consistent drivers in the sport, and Bianchi agrees with Gluck, adding that the feud between the two drivers is a fantastic thing for NASCAR as a whole.

“I think it’s fantastic. I think NASCAR needs that. NASCAR is better when there are big rivalries. If you look at the history of NASCAR, it’s always been successful when two drivers are battling for wins, being the best, battling for the championship and then battling each other for the win. Whether it was Petty versus Pearson or Earnhardt versus everybody, Earnhardt versus Gordon. That’s the best and that’s what you need,” Bianchi explained. “You have two of the most recognizable names in NASCAR, across the spectrum, and you have arguably the best all-around driver in Kyle Larson. You have Denny Hamlin, who loves the black hat very much and is willing to be the bad guy, and Larson is a man of the people and the people really support him. That’s what you need. That’s perfect.”

“Plus, you have Chevy versus Toyota. You have two of NASCAR’s top teams battling for supremacy. That’s all you want. All the exciting storylines you want. You look at it and say, you want to sell NASCAR, you want to get NASCAR to the casual fan or maybe the non-casual fan, these guys, two great drivers, Hall of Famers, all-time greats, need to compete, hell yeah, that’s what you want. If you’re NASCAR, that’s what you want. You cross your fingers that it happens.”

Still, Larson and Hamlin are hesitant to officially label their on-track anger as a rivalry, as the two used to be pretty good friends. Still, that doesn’t mean there can’t be a rivalry between the two, as Bianchi pointed out.

“You don’t have to hate anybody to have a rivalry,” Bianchi said. “I mean, Earnhardt and Gordon didn’t hate each other. They were business partners. They respected each other. You don’t always have to hate to have a rivalry. Rivalries can just be two greats battling each other and fighting to win, and I think you can have a rivalry based on mutual respect. … There’s a friendship there.

“Whether that friendship stays as strong as it once was, who knows, but at least there’s a basic friendship there that helps balance out the animosity. There are rivalries in this sport where two guys just don’t like each other, on and off the track, and that manifests itself in all sorts of different ways.”

At least Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have added some spice to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Who will throw the next stone remains to be seen, but at this point, their feud can hardly be described as anything other than rivalry.