Dale Earnhardt Jr. says Denny Hamlin has taken over as the ‘most booed driver’ at tracks

For the past decade or so, Kyle Busch has held the mantle as the most hated driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. A changing of the guard might be taking place, however, according to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Speaking on “The Dale Jr. Download” Monday, one day after Denny Hamlin’s controversial 50th Cup Series victory in the HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway, Earnhardt Jr. declared Hamlin as the “most booed driver” at race tracks.

“He [Hamlin] already had a lot of people upset at him over this year, right,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Some of the things he’s been involved in, on and off the track have soured a lot of fans. You go to the race track… when he’s introduced, he’s like the most booed driver. It used to be Kyle Busch, but it ain’t even close. He didn’t help himself there… Now, I’m in the booth and I’m looking down and there’s some fans cheering. There’s some 11 flags and shirts — they’ve got their arm in the air. But it was like 80/20.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks down Denny Hamlin’s ‘dirty’ move on Kyle Larson

Earnhardt Jr. made the declaration after the vitriol Hamlin received after he appeared to make contact with Kyle Larson while executing a pass to take the lead with seven laps remaining. Earnhardt Jr., who was in the NBC Sports booth during the on-track incident, called Hamlin’s pass a “dirty move.”

“Denny — it was exactly like with the No. 1 car — Ross Chastain last year,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Denny gets position in the middle of the corner. Larson missed the corner, didn’t get through the corner as well. Denny gets wheel-to-wheel mid corner. He makes a decision in that moment to throttle up and drive up the race track and door the hell out of the No. 5. There’s contact, he’s coming up the track.

“I agree that it was a dirty move to door him. To throttle up and door him, but it’s for the win. It’s not how you would expect friends to race friends.”

While Earnhardt Jr. said there was clearly contact, Hamlin felt differently. He reiterated on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday that he did not make contact with Larson, one of his best friends on the race track.

“I still contest we did not touch,” Hamlin said. “I know it looks like it, but there’s not a ding on the car, not a scratch nowhere on the right side. So from where I was sitting on the left, I mean, I could not, if it was contact, I certainly didn’t feel it. It was so small that I certainly didn’t feel it in the car. I saw the flaps go up, which happens whenever you get some low pressure. I guess there’s high pressure underneath the hood, which happens when you do get close to each other.”

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