NASCAR star Kyle Busch warns he can make Denny Hamlin's life 'HELL' after brutal criticism

Kyle Busch has warned Denny Hamlin he can make his life 'hell' after brutal criticism from his NASCAR Cup Series rival.

Busch is in the toughest spot of his career right now. He hasn't won a Cup Series race in over 100 events, and so far, 2026 has been a real struggle for the two-time champion at Richard Childress Racing.

We are now eight races into the season, but the two-time champion has yet to achieve a top-10 finish, and the last four races have ended in 28th, 21st, 24th, and 25th-place finishes, the latter of which came at Bristol on Sunday.

Those results leave the two-time champion languishing in 24th in the points standings, and following Bristol, Hamlin dished out some very stern criticism on his Actions Detrimental podcast.

Kyle Busch responds to Denny Hamlin criticism

Those comments haven't gone down too well with Busch himself, it would appear, who has now responded.

“If Denny wants to switch cars, I'll switch cars with him any day of the week, anytime,” Busch stated frankly in a media scrum at Kansas Speedway, as shared by Jeff Gluck.

“I would love for him to show me that he can carry it better than I can.”

“I have consumed some of it over time, and I've consumed that 80% of it, people don’t know what they’re talking about,” Busch continued after being asked if he was aware of the discourse on social media.

“And in this instance, I don't feel like Denny Hamlin even knows what the hell he's talking about.

“So he can bash me all he wants, and I can certainly make his life hell.”

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Denny Hamlin's full Kyle Busch criticism

Speaking after another disappointing weekend for Busch at Bristol, Hamlin said: “We keep talking about this, but the last couple of years (at Joe Gibbs Racing) was not good; it’s been like this for five years.

"You’re a Hall of Fame, Mount Rushmore driver, and if you’re of the greatest, then carry better than your teammate that’s only won ten races. I think he should be able to do that, but it’s not happening.”

Hamlin continued: “This is just my opinion, and I can’t hold a helmet to Kyle Busch on talent, but I just think that this is not new. He’s struggled for five years now, so we just have to be honest about our expectations.

“If you’re expecting Kyle Busch to just go back to victory lane, you’re going to be very disappointed. I just think that, until we change the car or something changes, something has to change, and I have no idea. I’m not in his shoes. I’m not his crew chief. I’m not his engineer, and I’m not his team owner. I’m not in the weeds.

"I’m just a podcaster that happens to be on the race track around him, and I can say it’s not working. I don’t have the answers, and I think we have to live in this reality for the time being.”