Denny Hamlin On Kyle Busch’s Shade Towards Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Crew Chief Debut: “He Was Walking To Victory Lane At The End Of That Race”

Of course Denny Hamlin has some thought on this… but he’s also right.

There was a little drama in the NASCAR world this past weekend between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who were rivals back in the day when they were both still full-time Cup Series drivers, and their animosity really stemmed from the infamous 2008 race at Richmond. They were battling for the lead during the last laps, and Busch spun Dale Jr. out during his first year at Hendrick Motorsports.

He was literally on track to end a two-year winless streak, so obviously, he was really upset about it, and later that year during the fall race at Richmond, Jr. returned the favor and spun Busch out.

Busch has made comments about him over the years, and in terms of fan perception back then, they definitely contrasted each other and remained rivals for many years. Eventually, after Jr. retired, they seemed to reconcile and even become friendly, and Jr. had Busch on his podcast a while back and they hashed it out.

Ahead of Jr. making his debut as crew chief on Saturday for his Jr. Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway, Kyle seemingly wasn’t too impressed. Before the race, he was asked:

“Kyle, there’s a lot of buzz about Dale Jr. being on top of the box for today’s Xfinity race. A somebody who was also a car owner and as a driver, how difficult does that transition to make?”

Kyle, who used to own a Truck Series team, had a sassy response, saying it was “all publicity,” adding that Jr. was just “a warm body sitting on top of the box.” He also implied that it didn’t matter as much because crew chiefs don’t need to be at the track anymore thanks to advances in NASCAR technology:

“It’s all publicity, but spin it how you want it. He’s just gonna be a warm body sitting on top of the box, you know, they’ve got enough stuff from the shop. And enough technology these days of being able to have the crew still involved.

So you know, I could say I could do the same thing you know with one of my truck teams, but the guys at the shop would be the ones handling it. But still, great. You know cool, eyeballs, and you know, putting some attention on their team and stuff like that.”

@alectheflexerofficial “It’s all publicity. He’s just going to be a warm body sitting on top of the box.” Kyle Busch shares his thoughts on Dale Jr taking on the role of crew chief #nascar #kylebusch #dalejr ♬ original sound – Alectheflexer

Busch responded to the interview on X, which obviously got a lot of attention from race fans, saying it had “nothing to do with any animosity towards Dale Jr.,” and it was more about the fact that Connor Zilisch’s crew chief Mardy Lindley had been suspended for one race, which is why Jr. had to fill in in the first place, and that suspending crew chiefs is a pointless endeavor that doesn’t really affect the race.

“This has nothing to do w any animosity towards Dale Jr. I’m referencing how silly the suspensions for cc are these days w all the technology they have to stay in contact w their teams. I’d say the same thing if JG went on a HMS box as a cc.”

This has nothing to do w any animosity towards Dale jr. I’m referencing how silly the suspensions for cc are these days w all the technology they have to stay in contact w their teams. I’d say the same thing if JG went on a HMS box as a cc. https://t.co/tEpT2xACXD

— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) June 21, 2025

Well, Jr. and company ended up winning the race, and Denny Hamlin, who is currently sitting at third place in points right now, had some thoughts on the whole fiasco on his Actions Detrimental podcast yesterday.

He explained that it was a combination of things that led to the win, and obviously it wouldn’t have been possible without the fact that “the team was doing the heavy lifting.” I don’t think anyone would argue with that, and he added that it’s also important to acknowledge that Jr. was ultimately responsible for so much of the strategy and what happened during the race, so he deserves credit for that and it’s not like he had nothing to do with it:

“I think we’ve got to give Dale Jr. a little bit of due and certainly, don’t want to undersell the fact that the team was doing the heavy lifting. I think that the answer can be somewhere in between of Kyle Busch says he’s nothing but a warm body up there — the TV sells it as if he’s an actual crew chief — I think the answer is probably somewhere in between.

But you still got to be responsible, right? You got to get the messages to the driver, and he saw opportunities, strategy wise, and he’s probably talking to the engineers about the strategy. The result was he was walking to Victory Lane at the end of that race and obviously, Connor drove that car fantastic.”

I think that’s actually a pretty good analysis, and I stand by the fact that I still think Busch was being petty and still has some animosity for him deep down that he might never fully shake…

But hey, the best way to shut a hater up by winning, and like Denny said, ultimately, Dale Jr. was the one “walking to Victory Lane” at the end of the race, after his driver had a great day and he helped pull off the big win in his first time being a crew chief.

You can watch the full podcast here:

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