Kyle Larson had fresher tires, and he was attempting to clock in some fast laps in an effort to gain his lap back late in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond.
Ahead of Larson was his newest rival — Denny Hamlin, who had just worked around Ryan Preece for the third position. Larson was closing in fast, but opted to drive through Hamlin instead of waiting for a lane to get around the driver of the No. 11 car.
Here is a video of the nudge from Larson on Hamlin:
Kyle Larson didn’t wait very long to get his first retaliatory tap in on Denny Hamlin. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/VFMCee55fv
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) July 30, 2023
Larson and Hamlin, who are good friends away from the track, didn’t see eye-to-eye in how a battle for the win played out last weekend at Pocono Raceway. Hamlin shoved Larson into the outside wall with a few laps remaining in that event.
The move gained Hamlin the lead, and eventually a win, but what he also did was add a new rival on track. Sunday showed that Hamlin will probably have to watch over his shoulder the remainder of the year as Larson has not forgotten about Pocono, yet.
