“He’s not in charge of engineering them”: Denny Hamlin reacts to Richard Childress’ frustrated message to Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin recently discussed Richard Childress' frustration with his employees for not developing faster cars. On the latest episode of the podcast 'Action Detrimental,' Hamlin shared a few pointers on how the team can improve the rides.

Richard Childress called out the #8 Chevy Camaro ZL1 team and the driver, Kyle Busch, after a P11 finish at the Challenge Four, the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 race at Dover Motor Speedway. Childress was not impressed by the performance and lost it on the team radio, stating, "Gotta get some race cars. We are in trouble. Period."

Reflecting on the same, Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on Childress' frustration and said (via YouTube):

"He's not in charge of engineering them. I think he's challenging his employees to come up with some different answers. He knows that the parts and pieces are the same, but they're obviously, what I believe he's saying is that we got to put them together better." [39:44 onwards]

"Well, it could be simulation. It could be uh tons of things. You know, maybe they're getting different answers in the tire department than what others are. I don't know. I'm not close enough to the situation to really know. But I mean, I'm here speculating that he's challenging everyone to, 'you know, we, we can't come back with the same thing. This is not working. We're not fast enough. We need better cars. We need to give our drivers a better opportunity to to win races'," Denny Hamlin added.

Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch has been on a winless streak since 2023. He won three races during his rookie season with the team, but has failed to register a win in the last two seasons. He even missed out on the playoffs in 2024, which ended his streak. Meanwhile, his teammate Austin Dillon ranks 28th in the Cup Series leaderboard and is looking to find a win this season as well.

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'Toughest line to walk': Denny Hamlin got candid on his duel with his teammate Chase Briscoe during the Dover race

NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin secured his fourth win of the season at Dover Motor Speedway. In old-fashioned, nail-biting style, the duo battled for the win, and Hamlin crossed the finish line 0.310 seconds ahead of his teammate, taking home the title.

During a post-race interview with Cup Scene on YouTube, the #11 Toyota Camry XSE driver expressed his views on his teammate's intention of not wrecking him during the final moments of the 400-lap race. Hamlin explained:

"Yeah, that's the toughest, it's the toughest line to walk, truthfully because if it is someone else you don't mind running them up in the fuzz, right? If it's a teammate, you gotta sit down, you gotta see that guy tomorrow afternoon. So, it's just a little different in that aspect. But, you know, when we went back, right before we went back, me and Chris were walking back to our cars and I said, "Just don't wipe me out." I was just, you know, I was afraid with him on, you know, we got old tires. I don't know what the grip level of the track is. I just didn't want JGR to clean itself out and then, you know, somebody else win it." [01:04]

Denny Hamlin ranks fourth in the Cup Series points table with 663 points to his credit. Additionally, he has secured four wins, 11 top-ten finishes, 10 top-five finishes, and one pole position in 20 starts this season.