“Daddy, I wrecked your favorite driver”: Denny Hamlin’s Atlanta disaster triggers unfiltered fan reactions

The In-Season Challenge at Atlanta got off to a chaotic debut after Denny Hamlin triggered a massive 18-car pileup early in Stage 2. The multi-car wreck brought out the red flag, and fans were quick to slam the 23XI co-owner for derailing the race.

Hamlin entered the Quaker State 400 as the No. 1-seeded driver but began the race outside the top 30. As he made his way to the front, his teammate Christopher Bell spun out and triggered a multi-car incident.

During the following restart, Hamlin made contact with John Hunter Nemechek near the eighth position and spun into Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson. The ensuing melee took out multiple contenders, including pole-sitter Joey Logano and the second-seeded Chase Briscoe.

NASCAR's official X handle shared the chaotic incident with the following caption:

"A moment that changes everything."

The post drew unfiltered reactions from fans, including one that played off Denny Hamlin's signature catchphrase.

"Daddy, I wrecked your favorite driver…all of em," the fan wrote.

One fan took a jab at Hamlin's tendency to deflect blame, writing,

"Thanks, Hamlin… again. I’m sure he’ll blame someone else."

Here are some more reactions from fans:

"Someone forgot to yield," a fan said.

"The bracket challenge just turned into who has a drivable car lol," an X user said.

"How can you have a real race after this?" another X user commented.

A fan took a pointed swipe at Hamlin, writing,

"Not another word about how someone drives @dennyhamlin. Almost appears as if you’re making a point."

Hamlin's co-owned team, 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick went on to capture Stage 2 after narrowly beating out Chase Elliot. Meanwhile, with Hamlin retiring from the race, his In-Season Challenge match-up, Ty Dillon, remains in contention to advance to Challenge Round 2.

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Denny Hamlin blames Brad Keselowski for Pocono mistake

Denny Hamlin pointed fingers at Brad Keselowski for his costly mistake at Pocono Raceway that saw him drop off from the lead. The RFK Racing driver entered the pits when it wasn't open yet, and by the time he realized his error and rejoined the race, he was slotted amongst the backmarkers.

During an episode of his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin commented on the incident and shared who he thought was more at fault.

"You know it's your team's job to tell you pit roads closed or open......He's right behind the pace car and it is flashing red and it never flashed anything but red and so that's, it's on the driver," he said. [48:10 onwards]

Denny Hamlin lost out to his JGR teammate Chase Briscoe and finished second at Pocono Raceway. Keselowski, on the other hand, put up quite an effort and broke into the top 10 to land at ninth.