Denny Hamlin has warned a fellow NASCAR Cup Series star that he might start getting some aggressive pushback on his racing style soon.

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen has been the talk of the sport since he came over to the US, first for his domination of road courses and now again as he continues his development on ovals.

The Trackhouse Racing driver picked up his first top-five finish on an oval on Sunday at Nashville, just a week after the best oval race of his career at Charlotte, as he continues to shoot up the points standings in his sophomore Cup Series season.

Hamlin sent a warning on his Actions Detrimental podcast this week, though, that the popular former Supercars champion should be aware that his freewheeling style might not continue to be so well received by other drivers as he begins to race more at the front of the pack.

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Hamlin sends SVG retaliation warning

“I saw him and Chase [Elliott] on the last lap," Hamlin said of a late-race fight for position. "I think he ran into him two or three times, I would just give warning that like eventually, they’re not going to let you just keep doing that without retaliating on you. Maybe they won’t say it on the radio, but just be careful of that SVG.”

Van Gisbergen did talk about that late battle after the race following a conversation with Elliot, saying: "Yeah I got a little bit loose when he put it on my door and at the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2, I kind of slid and then we both got tight.

"Neither one of us wanted to lift, I guess. Last lap, and Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) got us. And then coming to the flag battling, and, I tried to stay to the bottom. I don't know what happened. I was trying to look and see how close it was."

He added: "It was a pretty awesome day for this No. 97 Chevrolet team. Starting up front obviously helps, but it was cool to lead some laps and battle at the front. Our Chevy was running really well all night.

"I really enjoyed myself tonight. I learned a lot. I learned to be comfortable moving around in (turns) one and two, which I’ve never been able to do before. We just got the balance better on the two-tire strategy. When we were on a four-tire strategy, we were lacking that. The two-tire stop at the end, we were able to get the balance back again. It was a lot of fun. It definitely feels like we’re making headway.”

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