Denny Hamlin believes that Bubba Wallace caused the “big one” at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin reacted to being involved in a wreck that began with Wallace.
“It looked like to me that Bubba just squeezed those two guys below him down,” Denny Hamlin said. “You could just see that they’re there, two cars on the inside. “I don’t know what Freddie [Kraft, Wallace’s spotter] was calling. Maybe he was saying three wide top or not — I’m not sure, but he [Wallace] just squeezed on down there, and there was no room. So he ended up wrecking himself, and obviously a few others.”
The wreck began when Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch got tangled together. About a dozen cars were involved in a wreck, including Hamlin and his 23XI Racing teammate Riley Herbst.
Denny Hamlin said Bubba Wallace was ‘not clear’
Hamlin, the co-owner of 23XI, was then asked if Wallace took a shove from Kyle Larson before the wreck. “I’m looking at it, and I don’t think so,” Hamlin replied. The five [Larson] was already on him close, but no. That’s just the 23 [Wallace] not clear. It’s just one of those not-clear moments.”
The wreck ended Wallace’s night and put Hamlin in a spot where he could never recover. When Wallace left the care center, he spoke to the NBC broadcast about what he saw before the accident.
“Oh, I need to see a replay, I know everything was happening pretty quickly there,” Wallace told Parker Kligerman. “Man, what a um… Here’s a good, good visual of it, sorry. … The hit from the 5 shoved me down there, and it was like I got shoved up by the 22 when the 12 moved up. He was trying to just move up and take a lane, but oh well. Man, I hate it. 22nd to the lead in a short amount of time.”
Hamlin and Wallace are moving on from Daytona because they have clinched spots in the playoffs. The first playoff race will take place on Sunday, Aug. 31, when the drivers compete in the Southern 500 at Darlington.
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