Kyle Larson felt he was “used up” by Denny Hamlin as it was the only way the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was going to beat him Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
“He gave me a real push down the frontstretch and I was nervous of the move that happened because he made it work on Ross (Chastain) last year, and he dirtied him up,” Larson said. “He knows (he did), and Ross deserved it last year for all those times he got into Denny. I felt like I didn’t. I deserved to be raced with respect, at least through Turn 1, but he knew that was going to be his only opportunity to beat me with how bad dirty (it) was.
“I got used up. It’s just unfortunate. I feel like we’ve had a handful of run-ins; I’ve never had to reach out to apologize. He’s always been the one that’s reached out to me and been like, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry. I messed up there a little bit,’ or ‘Sorry, I put you in a bad spot,’ or ‘Sorry, I hurt your day.’ I’ve never had to do that to him. Sure, maybe there’s been times he’s been frustrated with me, but I’ve never hurt his results. I should have at least been top two; I finished 21st.”
Larson and Hamlin were racing tight off Turn 1 on a restart with seven laps to go. The two went up the track coming off the corner with Larson running out of room on the outside lane and hitting the wall. Hamlin went by into the race lead.
A caution for an unrelated incident quickly followed. Under the yellow flag, Larson drove up alongside Hamlin on the frontstretch and hit Hamlin in the driver’s side door.
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“In my eyes, hey, I could have 10 more playoff points, two more wins right now if not for (Hamlin),” Larson said. “Yeah, I’m (mad) and I should be.”
Larson missed out on a win at Kansas Speedway earlier this year in a battle with Hamlin. On the last lap, the No. 11 ran up on the back of Larson off Turn 2 and the Hendrick car hit the wall. But Larson said that situation, unlike Pocono, was more a racing deal.
“I would have loved to have got to racing him through (Turns) 3 and 4 there,” Larson said. “Today, I didn’t even get to race him. He ran into him before I ever hit the wall. And we all know the aero stuff that goes on when somebody gets that close to you. His hood flaps were up. He was touching me before we ever got to the exit.
“I obviously lost the handle on my car, was out of the throttle, and hit the wall and tore up my car and finished 21st.”
Because the two are friends, Larson said things will be awkward, but what happens on the racetrack stays on the racetrack. He feels he does a good job of separating those two things.
“He’s still a friend,” Larson said. “He races me like an (expletive) but is still a friend. I’m just mad right now. I’m sure he’ll say some dumb stuff on Monday night or whatever, and I’ll get more mad for a little while and then I’ll eventually get over it.”