“He put himself in a box" - Denny Hamlin believes Ricky Stenhouse Jr. punching Kyle Busch was inevitable 

Denny Hamlin recently shared his thoughts on the Kyle Busch - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. feud from North Wilkesboro Speedway. After the All-Star race, Stenhouse punched Busch in front of his hauler, which led to a big feud between the two drivers.

Stenhouse ended up doing so because of an incident earlier in the race when Busch took revenge on him. In the opening two laps of the race, Busch hit the wall after Stenhouse went up on the racetrack in a three-wide situation, because of which the #8 drive ended up wrecking him out of the race.

Speaking about this on Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin claimed that Stenhouse punching Busch was inevitable because he had already publicly committed to it.

Hamlin noted how before he confronted Busch in front of the #8 hauler, Stenhouse "put himself in a box."

"He put himself in a box on TV by saying he was going to do something. Ricky is one of those stand-up humans that when he tells you he’s going to do something, he’s probably going to do it." [48:10]

Hamlin claimed the only way Busch was going to avoid the punch was if the #8 driver apologized straightaway and deemed Stenhouse to be right.

"It was the only way. Because I thought Kyle didn't really justify anything," Hamlin added.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver further claimed that Busch never got the chance to apologize or agree with Stenhouse because the JTG Daugherty Racing driver saw the opportunity to throw the punch dwindling.

The #11 driver believes that the reason why all the cameras were following Busch as he was making his way to the hauler was, in fact, Stenhouse being "a man of his word".

"They knew Ricky was camped out at the #8 hauler," the driver offered.

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Denny Hamlin believes his former teammate is going through a rough phase in his career

A big chunk of success in Kyle Busch's career came during his time at Joe Gibbs Racing. But ever since his move to Richard Childress Racing in 2023, he simply hasn't tasted success or consistency to that level.

This was something which Hamlin believed was the cause of frustration for Busch, something that played into his actions on track against Stenhouse.

"Kyle is frustrated in general right now, in life, he is just frustrated ... with racing. He's on track frustrated. Because he feels like he should be running better than he is." [46:40]

The 23XI Racing co-owner claimed that Busch is frustrated because he is currently in "a different situation" right now, being at Richard Childress Racing, compared to the one he was in "for many, many years" when he was with Joe Gibbs Racing.

"He's trying his best to carry this thing as far as he can carry it," Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin admitted that sometimes a driver's emotions get the better of him and that's what happened with Kyle Busch in turn 2 during those opening laps of the All-Star race - Busch's emotions got the better of him and he "knocked Ricky into the fence."

Going forward, if this feud develops between Stenhouse and Busch, perhaps Hamlin will again be the one to succinctly catch the persuasions behind it.