Denny Hamlin responds to Bubba Wallace’s middle finger gesture after the Kansas clash

Denny Hamlin opened up on Bubba Wallace flipping him off after their last-lap duel at Kansas Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing ace took no offence at the gesture and thought of it as just a 'heated moment'.

During the Hollywood Casino 400, Wallace lost out on a win after clashing with Hamlin in the overtime restart. Wallace looked on pace to earn the checkered flag before Hamlin drove him up the wall. Hamlin lost momentum as well and threw away a win for the Toyotas, while Chevrolet's Chase Elliott won the race on fresher tires.

Frustrated by the outcome, the No.23 driver threw expletives over the team radio and flipped off Hamlin during the cooldown lap. As co-owner of 23Xl Racing, Hamlin addressed the incident on his podcast and refused to apologise for going hard at his own driver.

He also spoke out on Wallace's offensive post-race gesture.

“If he were to flip me off at 23XI as the car owner, we would have an employer, employee problem but as a competitor, he flipped off the driver of the 11. I don’t have an issue with that," he said (via Motorsport.com)

“Anything directed to me as an owner, I would certainly take an exception to that because I know the resources Michael (Jordan) and I give Bubba every single week to go out there and compete....I don’t take that personally because I’m assuming we got someone that is on the field in the game in a heated moment. I give him grace for that because we are competitors on Sunday,” he added.

Denny Hamlin was chasing his 60th career win and hoped to crack NASCAR's top-10 all-time wins list. Kevin Harvick sits above him with 60 Cup Series wins to his name.

Sunday's result keeps the record at bay, while Wallace is now in a must-win situation to advance to the final eight. The Alabama native is 26 points below the playoff cutline at tenth in the playoff standings. His teammate, Tyler Reddick, trails him by three points.

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Denny Hamlin clarifies his role as JGR driver and 23Xl co-owner

Denny Hamlin cleared up any misconceptions about his stint as a JGR driver while operating as co-owner for 23Xl Racing. He reaffirmed his loyalty to JGR on race days.

“I’m the driver of the 11 on Sunday. Joe Gibbs pays me a lot of money to make sure that car wins a championship or has a shot to. And can you imagine the outrage if I just backed off and let (Wallace) have it?,” he said. (via aforementioned source)

Denny Hamlin also noted that Joe Gibbs pays him 'a lot of money' to win championships and that he intends to do just that.