Denny Hamlin believes the wreck that cost 23XI driver Corey Heim a shot at winning a $500K NASCAR bonus was intentional.

The incident in question occurred during Friday night's Truck Series race, with Heim having stepped away from his part-time duties at 23XI Racing to be on duty driving the No. 1 Toyota for Tricon Garage.

At the time of the wreck, Heim was leading and in contention for the win, which would have seen him collect a $500k bonus from the Triple Truck Challenge, having also won races at Rockingham and Darlington.

However, after taking the lead from Christian Eckes, the driver of the No. 91 made contact with the right rear of Heim's truck, causing him to turn and slam into the wall. It also had a domino effect, with multiple other cars becoming involved as they came around the track and either hit Heim or someone else who had been caught up.

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Hamlin on Heim v Eckes at Bristol

Post-race, Heim put it down to being a racing incident, but speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin argued that there was more to it than that.

“I know what they said. I know from sitting at home - maybe I was biased - but I was like, what the hell? He wrecked him on purpose,” Hamlin said.

“And I only say that because I knew that Corey had gotten into him once for sure, the second time Corey didn't think he got into him…but from the TV, I thought he got him again.

“I was like, ‘Oh, he's gonna be p****d,’ and I was like, 'Oh, I didn't know he was gonna be that p****d.’

“But it seemed like they both kind of brushed it off as a misjudgment. Corey took it took it well.

“I certainly would not have reacted the way he did,” Hamlin concluded. “He’s far more mature in that situation than I am.”

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Corey Heim's reaction

Reacting to the incident at Bristol, Heim said: "I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything.

"I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix-up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck.

"I had an issue with my transmission sticking into gears, and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free; I just packed some air and got him free.

"I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it. I’ve been racing him for a long time, and I don’t think he would do that on purpose, so we are all good.”

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