Denny Hamlin Takes Sarcastic Dig at Outspoken Martin Truex Jr & Reserved...

Winning is a collaborative effort. When 40 cars run 3 or even 4 wide at blazing speed, not a single driver can emerge as a standout and dominate the rest by means of overkill; indeed, the margin between the first-place finish and the runner-up is quite minimal. The point of difference oftentimes is the team crew, especially the spotter and crew chief.

While one keeps the driver away from on-track trouble, the other lays out the strategy throughout the race. Unfortunately, Martin Truex Jr and the number 19 team’s crew chief James Small share a love-and-hate relationship which Truex’s teammate Denny Hamlin finds hilarious.

Sunday’s South Point 400 witnessed a radio banter between Martin Truex Jr and James Small regarding their controversial pit strategy. During the caution break between Stage 1 and 2, while other drivers committed to the pit lane, Small instructed Truex to stay on the track. Truex, however, was a bit skeptical at first but ultimately followed the instructions.

However, it didn’t quite work out. The tricky part of this strategy is that one really needs to stay up front while playing it out. Otherwise, there are high chances that one could get sucked in the traffic on the restarts. And that’s exactly what happened. By the end of Stage 2, Martin Truex Jr fell back to the 16th spot.

It seemed like Truex Jr had difficulties following Small’s instructions due to the latter’s soft-spoken nature. Moreover, his Australian accent sometimes comes out unclear on the in-car radio. And the driver doesn’t hold back from expressing his frustration at times like these.

In a recent Actions Detrimental episode, co-host and Denny Hamlin’s longtime friend Jared Allen exclaimed, “They sound like a married couple that are just sick of each other. But that’s just how they operate. Truex’s like I shouldn’t have listened to you, but I’m not good at that.”

Denny Hamlin roared out in laughter. He recalled having seen an update about the duo’s antics on Twitter. The 23XI owner said, “James is a pretty soft-spoken individual. Truex is not shy about saying, “I can’t f***ing hear you, I can’t understand you.” For him to have an accent and to be soft-spoken, and Truex is not shy about calling out both, it’s laughable, it’s funny.”