Kyle Busch Advises Denny Hamlin to ‘Keep His Mouth Shut’ and Then Paints Ugly Picture About Respect in Garage: ‘Nobody Gives 2 S**** About Anybody Else’
Kyle Busch hasn’t been one to hold his tongue in the past. His mouth has gotten him into trouble on multiple occasions as he’s lashed out at fans, drivers, and NASCAR.
Before the race this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the two-time champion was asked about the Denny Hamlin penalty and how his former teammate’s mouth earned him a penalty this week from the sanctioning body. The Richard Childress Racing driver bluntly suggested Hamlin should have kept his mouth shut, and then made an interesting comment about the state of the garage and a general lack of respect that’s now pervasive.
Denny Hamlin made critical remarks about Kyle Busch recently
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were JGR teammates for 15 years. Hamlin has repeatedly said how Busch was a good teammate.
However, after Busch won his first race at RCR earlier this year and many in Rowdy Nation criticized JGR officials for allowing the driver of the No. 18 car to leave, Hamlin made news for his comments defending the organization during his Actions Detrimental podcast.
“I see y’all are dragging JGR,” Hamlin said. “Even if I’m unbiased here, this was a tough situation where they wanted him back. That company would cease to exist if they had to pay Kyle what he was demanding, especially after losing Mars.
“It would just be impossible. It would be a detriment to all the JGR teams if he had to say, ‘Alright, well you have to pay me this,’ which is what he said, ‘or else I’m leaving.’ They had to make a business decision to stay in business. It’s unfortunate.”
Hamlin admits to intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain
Hamlin’s remarks on Busch’s departure from JGR were eye-opening, but paled in comparison to his comments on the latest podcast when he admitted how he deliberately wrecked Ross Chastain during the final laps at Phoenix.
“I did. It wasn’t a mistake,” the driver admitted. “No, it wasn’t a mistake. I let the wheel go, and I said he’s coming with me. It’s been interesting because I hear people say this is for last year. This is for that. It’s not.
“I got wrecked at the Clash. I don’t know that Ross sees it that way. I think he’s still curious about what I thought about the Clash. I don’t know why he would wonder what I thought about the Clash.”
That admission caught NASCAR’s attention and the sanctioning body penalized the No. 11 driver, fining him $50,000 and docking him 25 points.
Busch comments on Hamlin and lack of respect in NASCAR garage
Before this weekend’s race at Atlanta, Hamlin’s penalty was naturally a hot topic of conversation. When Kyle Busch was asked about it, he made it abundantly clear where he stood on the subject.
“Keep your mouth shut,” Busch said of his reaction to the penalty. “Simple as that. It’s what Logano did when he wrecked me in 2017. That was on purpose but didn’t admit it.”
Moments later, when a reporter mentioned how drivers like Mark Martin might have had more etiquette in the past, Busch perked up and offered his thoughts.
“That’s the key part. Now you’re going down the right path because we have completely lost any sense of respect in the garage area between drivers at all,” he said. “That’s where the problem lies is nobody gives two s**** about anybody else, and it’s just a problem where everybody takes advantage of everybody as much as they can. We’re all selfish, granted.
“But there was an etiquette that once did live here. Mark started it. I think Tony really lived by it. I think Jeff lived by it. Bobby Labonte. Rusty for the most part. Dale Jarrett for sure. It did exist. That’s gone.”
Busch was then asked, as the two-time champion, if he’s tried to take on a leadership role in the garage.
“I’ve tried to talk to guys,” he said. “They don’t listen so I’ve lost interest in talking to them.”
It sounds like the lack of respect and intentional wrecking will continue for the foreseeable future.
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