Kyle Larson after contact from Denny Hamlin at Iowa: ‘What the f*** was that for?’

Kyle Larson had an issue with what Denny Hamlin did to him during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. During the second stage of the Iowa Corn 350, Hamlin contacted Larson, and it didn’t sit well with him.

“What the f*** was that for?” Larson said, per multiple reports. According to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels told him to let it go because he had the fastest car. Larson started the race at the No. 1 spot, finished the first stage in second and finished Stage 2 in first. Hamlin got off to a slow start, finishing 34th after Stage 1. But he picked things up in Stage 2 by finishing sixth.

Larson is going for his second consecutive victory after placing first at Sonoma last week. After the Sonoma Race, Larson talked about the strategy he had for getting the victory.

“Yeah, I didn’t know what we were doing as far as strategy,” he said. “I was just out there banging laps away. I don’t know, we study all the strategy, but it’s like doing homework. I don’t really know what I’m looking at.

“Yeah, I was like, well, man, these guys are going to have to pit another time maybe. Then we said we had to go race and pass these guys, I got a bit nervous. I knew I’d be quick from the get-go but I thought once the tires would come up to temp it would even off too much.”

Denny Hamlin weighs in on Kyle Larson’s playoff waiver

Hamlin has had some interesting thoughts on Larson getting a playoff waiver from NASCAR after missing the Coca-Cola 600. The 43-year-old driver spoke about it on the Actions Detrimental podcast and said Larson should receive the waiver.

“I got asked that question by a couple people at JGR. … They said, ‘Do you think he should get a waiver?’ And I said quickly, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ They were like, ‘Really? So what if you want to go race Le Mans next year? Should you get a waiver?’ I said, ‘Hm, that’s a good point. I didn’t think about it like that.’ What defines a major event? There are lots of major events,” Hamlin said. “Now, Kyle wasn’t missing this to go to a high-limit race. You know, he was missing this to do the Indy 500. I don’t know how NASCAR feels about him choosing Indy over the Coke 600, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that the Coke 600 is a bigger event than the Indy 500. Would anyone make that argument?”