Denny Hamlin wanted to meet with Kyle Larson at Richmond Raceway to discuss their closing-laps incident at Pocono that left the fans booing Hamlin and Larson furious, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver didn’t think it was a good idea.
“I just didn’t really feel like there was a reason to meet up because we were just going to agree to disagree and probably get more frustrated with him,” Larson says. “I’m sure vice versa. He probably would be frustrated with me afterwards. So, I thought just the brief texts that we had were good.”
Larson, who qualified 14th for Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, said the day after the Pocono event Hamlin said a “handful of things” on his podcast “Actions Detrimental” that made him “even more frustrated throughout the week” than he was immediately after the race. However, he declined to reiterate Hamlin’s comments.
“I get over things pretty quickly, so I’m sure I’ll get over this over time,” Larson says. “This time I have probably let it linger on my attitude a little bit this week just because it’s happened more with him than any other driver in my career. Also, a win was taken, so that makes you more frustrated.
“I just didn’t have an option last week, so that’s what made me most upset. I did lift, and I still hit the wall.”
If the roles had been reversed at Pocono, Larson said a person could look at the last four or five restarts he had with Kyle Busch earlier this year at World Wide Technology Raceway and see how he would have raced Hamlin. However, he admitted that won’t be the case going forward.
“I respect Kyle and that’s why I raced him with respect at Gateway (WWTR),” Larson says. “I respect Denny ever bit as much if not more, or I did.
“You can’t ever predict how things will play out, but I know what to expect or whatever racing around him (Hamlin) and I hope he can expect the same in return.”
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