NASCAR star Denny Hamlin weighs in on 'unacceptable' Kyle Busch wreck at Texas

NASCAR Cup Series star Denny Hamlin has weighed in on Kyle Busch's controversial wreck at Texas...and not on the side of his fellow veteran.

The two-time Cup Series champ finished off Sunday's race at Texas in controversial style, appearing to intentionally wreck John Hunter Nemechek just before the white flag to end the pair's battle for 12th place.

The pair got together on corner exit, with Busch moving up before fully clearing the No. 42 and both thumping into the wall, but it was the second part of the sequence – with the No. 8 veering up and fully wrecking Nemechek in apparent retaliation at the next corner – that drew attention.

Busch had gotten heated at Carson Hocevar earlier in the race, with spotter Derek Kneeland trying to calm him down over the radio, and things came to a head when the two-time champ felt slighted by where Nemechek was running when they first got together.

Hamlin: Does NASCAR use common sense?

Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday, Hamlin said: "I mean, God bless Derek Kneeland, his spotter. I thought he's just doing a great job of trying to just put some chill in his life. I don't know, it just seems like everyone's going at everyone over there right now.

"But you know, as far as the incident, I didn't see anything, no matter who's at fault for what down the back straightaway – like, what happened in Turn 3 was certainly unacceptable. It should be viewed that way as unacceptable."

Asked whether NASCAR would – or should – step in and punish Busch for the intentional wreck, Hamlin compared the situation to his wreck of Ross Chastain in 2023. He was punished for that incident with a $50,000 fine and a 25-point deduction, but only after he publicly admitted that he'd intended to wreck the No. 1 car.

"Does NASCAR just kind of use their common sense judgment or do they say, well there's just not enough evidence?" Hamlin asked. "

You know when I said I washed Chastain up into the wall, you know, I got a point fine and things like that. But, you know, in the end it was because I said it. I don't know that Kyle's refuting it but he's also not saying, yeah, I took...I don't know. In so many words, he is."

Any potential punishment may end up resting on Busch's social media posts after the race, with one beginning 'I did not start this'. That would appear to imply that the second contact was deliberate retaliation...but without directly saying so.