NASCAR Cup Pocono
Larson: "I've been cost a lot of good finishes by (Hamlin)"
Kyle Larson doesn’t plan to let the incident between himself and Denny Hamlin in Sunday’s race at Pocono affect their friendship, but it may change how he races Hamlin in the future.
Jim Utter
Edited: Jul 24, 2023, 8:49 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
After a final round of pit stops late in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race, Larson, Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. found themselves battling for the lead on a restart with seven of 160 laps remaining.
Hamlin lined up behind Larson in the outside lane and as the two entered Turn 1, Hamlin dove to the inside of Larson. Hamlin then drifted up the track and nudged Larson into the wall, knocking him off the pace.
With the lead in hand, Hamlin then held off a fast-approaching Tyler Reddick until a last-lap caution secured Hamlin’s victory.
After the race, in which he finished 20th, Larson was visibly irritated with Hamlin’s actions on the restart.
“It’s unfortunate but I’ve been cost a lot of good finishes by him throughout my career. I know he says I race a certain way, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to apologize to him about anything. Not that I’m sure he’s going to say, ‘sorry’ after this,” Larson said.
“It is what it is. We just move on to Richmond. I guess we won there earlier this year, so we’ll try to get a good run in. Thanks to the crowd here in Pennsylvania. I got a lot of support here in PA.”
Asked if it was a difficult situation to deal with considering the two are good friends off the track, Larson said, “Yeah, we’re friends. Yes, this makes things s---- and awkward. You know, whatever.
“He’s always right. All the buddies know Denny’s always right. So, I’m sure he was in the right there as well. I’m not going to let it tarnish our friendship off track, but I am p----d. And I feel like I should be p----d. I’m sure ‘Actions Detrimental’ (Hamlin’s podcast) will have a long clip about it.”
Will race Hamlin differently now
When it comes to how Larson races Hamlin on the track in the future, he said he plans to take a lesson from Hamlin himself.
“I think at this point I have to (race him different), right? Like I said, I’ve never had to apologize to him about anything I’ve done on the race track. I can count four or five times where he reached out to me and said, ‘Oh man, sorry I put you in a bad spot there’ or whatever,” Larson said.
“Eventually, like he has said, you got to start racing people a certain way to get the respect back. I mean he pulled the same on Ross (Chastain) last year which Ross probably deserved it, right, with all the stuff he’s done to Denny in his career.
“Again, I haven’t done that to Denny. I don’t think I deserve to be run into before I got to the wall. I’m going to race a sprint car on Tuesday night. I’m going to forget about this in a few hours and that’s the best medicine for a tough result.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article 2023 NASCAR Cup Pocono race results
Next article Tyler Reddick "pissed off" by late caution call
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 15 min
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
26 min
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 1 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Hockenheim in talks with F1 despite “virtually zero” public funding
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
Hockenheim in talks with F1 despite “virtually zero” public funding
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe