"Was Kyle Busch running out of gas?": Denny Hamlin offers new perspective on Busch-Chastain incident at Sonoma

Denny Hamlin recently shared his thoughts on the Kyle Busch-Ross Chastain incident from Sonoma. The RCR driver was heading home for a top 5 place finish before Chastain made contact with his #8 Camaro, which left Busch spinning and ending up with a 12th place finish.

On the latest episode of the "Actions Detrimental" podcast, Hamlin claimed he initially assumed it was a case of "what happened, happened" between the two. But then he proposed an interesting perspective on the incident between the two Chevrolet drivers.

"I knew that a top 5 was on the line and honestly, other than driver ego and we definitely have that like, what's the difference between 5th and 6th? It's one point. But I just knew that the #1 was going to go for it. Now I don't know, what we don't know is, because he (Chastain) came from entirely too far back in turn 4 to run into Kyle. Was Kyle running out of gas? And then the #1 car panicked and overdrove the corner? Because he was two car lengths behind entering turn 4. There's no rhyme or reason you should be even close to being besides somebody in the middle of turn 4. Trust me on this, I drive, I race, I understand," Hamlin said [at 30:25].

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver mentioned that a driver being two car lengths behind entering turn 4 at Sonoma would not get there. The best scenario in Hamlin's opinion was for that driver to close it down to one car length if he really drives it in.

But there was "no rhyme or reason" Chastain should've been beside Busch unless he entirely missed the corner "by a mile." This could've happened as per Denny Hamlin, considering the #8 had "stumbling issues."

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Denny Hamlin calls the Busch-Chastain incident "a perfect bad storm"

Speaking further about the Busch-Chastain incident, Denny Hamlin mentioned that Kyle Busch eventually ran out of gas. The #11 driver wondered if, while Busch was stumbling and trying to hit his fuel switch, Ross Chastain "totally blew the corner" and made contact with him. Because Chastain blowing the corner was something Hamlin was convinced of.

Talking about the incident in the same episode, Hamlin opined,

"He wasn't going to he drove up way beyond the rumbles, there's no disputing it. It's just a matter of, did Kyle not help his own cause by running out in that spot."

Having said that, Denny Hamlin considered the idea of putting it on Ross Chastain based on his reputation. But then again, he mentioned that the #8 car had issues.

In the end, Hamlin proposed Busch being out of gas entering turn 4 and Chastain being caught off guard with that after missing his mark "by just a little bit" and making contact with the #8. According to Denny Hamlin, this whole incident was somewhat like "a perfect bad storm."