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Kyle Larson won the revered race at Indianapolis. But it was a rather bittersweet moment for him since the tag of “favoritism” and him being a “golden boy” soon followed after the finish. Everyone, from veterans and fans, was quick to point out the decision NASCAR took and questioned the race’s legitimacy and Kyle Larson’s win. And in this hour of darkness, the only loud voice who took a stand for Larson is someone even the HMS driver wouldn’t have imagined- Denny Hamlin.
The Indianapolis race was back after three years and it was meant to create a buzz and that it did—except not quite like NASCAR expected. It all started when Brad Keselowski pitted because of his fuel issues. This is when NASCAR decided not to re-rack and this turned out to be game-changing for both Blaney and Larson
Larson ended up taking Keselowski’s position on the restart and most claim that he then jumped the restart–and this became a huge topic of controversy. Because NASCAR didn’t stop the race, they continued. Denny Hamlin on his podcast discussed the controversy and he didn’t think that Larson jumped the start. Analyzing the SMT data, he said that they fired at the same time. He also mentioned that it was Larson’s position on the inside that gave him the major advantage.
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Denny Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast, “He went and gassed it up to get even with the 12 right away. Then he backed off, then he rolled a little bit of speed. When I say a little bit, it’s like a mile per hour the entire time he just kept creeping, creeping, creeping, and then they fired at the same time. And then what happened was since they fired at the same time, Kyle’s got that one-mile-per-hour advantage the whole time.”
But Denny Hamlin also explained that it wouldn’t have mattered at all because Blaney could be ahead of Larson entering turn 1, but Larson was gonna blow his doors off since he had the bottom. And Indianapolis is one such track where being on the bottom is such an advantage. No wonder the moment Larson took that position, Blaney seemed to be hauling harsh words at the radio. He said, “There’s no way they should’ve let that go green. That’s ridiculous. They just GAVE it to him (Kyle Larson). It’s fcking over, I’m on the top. I ain’t gonna win from the top. Gave it to fcking golden boy. Son of a b*tch.”
Hamlin thus clarified that Larson and Blaney both started at the same time, settling the debate about a potential jump-start. However, he didn’t hold back when it came to criticizing NASCAR’s handling of the late caution.
