Denny Hamlin weighed in on the controversial battle involving John Hunter Nemechek and Kyle Busch at the conclusion of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Nemechek and Busch made contact on the backstretch with two laps remaining in the race, causing the latter to bounce off the outside wall.
In what looked to be a retaliation move, Busch door-slammed Nemechek as they entered turn three, sending the driver of the No. 42 crashing into the wall. While the original battle was for 12th place, the incidents caused Busch to finish 20th and Nemechek 21st.
Hamlin, who finished second on Sunday, called Busch’s move “unacceptable” in the most recent episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast.
Hamlin details ‘unacceptable’ move by Busch
Hamlin made it clear he did not agree with Busch’s retaliation maneuver on Nemechek.
The driver of the No. 11 went on to express confusion in Busch’s recollection of the incident regarding how he was using the track’s hash marks to judge where he was running on the 1.5-mile track.
“What happened in turn three was certainly unacceptable. I heard Kyle say, ‘Well, the 42 had two feet to the wall, and I was judging my left side tires by the hash marks down the back.’ I’m like, ‘Hash marks down the back?’ It’s weird. I didn’t know those hash marks existed,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin said Busch is not right or wrong for judging by the hash marks, adding that the driver of the No. 8 does a quality job of finding things like braking marks. However, Hamlin believes the aerodynamics came into play more in the Nemechek incident.
“From an aerodynamic standpoint, Kyle, you’re not going to want to be up-close to the outside cars. The 42, being that he’s still outside, the spotter is still calling he’s out there, he’s at your quarter panel, you don’t want to crowd him. That’s just going to dump air on your spoiler and make you go slower down the straightaway,” Hamlin said.
In reference to a previous comment Busch made about how he would love to switch cars with Hamlin, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said things would have gone differently.
“If we were to switch cars, I would not have been running in the hash marks down the back straightaway. I would’ve pulled down to be in a better aerodynamic position,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin believes a penalty against Busch is pointless
Although Hamlin does not agree with Busch’s late-race tactics, he does not believe it should lead to a penalty.
Given the current public opinion of Busch, amid the ongoing RCR struggles, Hamlin believes it is enough of a punishment.
“I’m seeing his fan accounts. They’re pretty down right now on him. In sports, there’s fouls that get called and there’s some fouls that don’t. I don’t think it really (expletive) matters considering where he is in points. The money, who cares about that? If you’re rooting for a penalty, for what? It doesn’t change anything,” Hamlin said.
After 11 races in 2026, Busch has one top-10 finish and currently sits 26th in the points standings. He has failed to win a Cup race since June 2023.
Denny Hamlin Sounds Off on Kyle Busch’s Texas Move: ‘Unacceptable’