Denny Hamlin explains confrontation with Darrell Wallace Jr. after Daytona 500

Hamlin wasn't thrilled with Bubba's driving, or his post-race comments

By Pete Blackburn

Feb 20, 2018 at 8:16 pm ET • 1 min read

On Sunday, Denny Hamlin was mad at the Daytona 500. On Tuesday, Denny Hamlin was mad online. Following a brief but heated verbal confrontation with Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. following Sunday's race, Hamlin is apparently still a little hot under the collar. While Wallace appears to be moving on and putting the incident behind him, Hamlin isn't exactly directing water under the bridge just yet.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hamlin took to Twitter to explain why he got in Wallace's face after the 500.

Let me clue the idiots on Twitter what I was pissed off about. I had no issue with how the race ended. I was minding my own business on the bottom of the track and out of the blue I get ran into, my tire blown, and perfectly straight car destroyed. I’m good with all that.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 20, 2018

Then, I go do media and everything is fine. Then the last question is what was my response to what Bubba said. I had no issue until not only did he place blame on me but then went on to make personal comments about myself. I left the media center and saw Bubba 30 secs later.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 20, 2018

Anyone who wouldn’t take offense to the stupid things that was said has absolutely no backbone. I have one
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 20, 2018

In case you're a little out of the loop, here's what happened: As they crossed the finish line on the final lap Sunday, Hamlin and Wallace made contact that resulted in Wallace's car being pinched along the outside wall immediately after the checkered flag came out. Wallace felt that Hamlin initiated the contact and wasn't thrilled with the sequence, while Hamlin felt Wallace initiated the contact and wasn't thrilled with the sequence.

Wallace was quite vocal about his gripes with Hamlin, calling him "an idiot" over the team radio. Then, while addressing the incident in a post-race interview with FOX Sports, Wallace said that Hamlin "might need to take some Adderall for that one."

That comment was a jab at the controversy that Hamlin found himself in last week when he said on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast that 70 percent of his NASCAR peers used Adderall. That claim, which Hamlin says was made in jest, wasn't received well by NASCAR. It got him in some hot water with the bosses.

After finding out about Wallace's verbal jab from reporters, Hamlin confronted him outside of the media center at Daytona. They exchanged some heated words before getting dragged their separate ways.

So, it appears that Hamlin didn't take too kindly to the rookie's driving, nor did he appreciate him making jokes about the Adderall firestorm. If this all seems quite dramatic and a tad bit silly to you, just know you're likely not alone. Maybe Hamlin will cool off at some point soon, but, as of Tuesday, he's still irked enough to be calling fans morons on the internet.