“What in the hell?”: Denny Hamlin apologizes amid hairy moment with JGR teammate C Bell

The start to the 2025 Talladega Superspeedway race did not go as planned for Joe Gibbs Racing as two of their star drivers, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, collided during Stage 1. Hamlin made contact with Bell and ended the latter's race, the Jack Link's 500.

In Lap 52 of 188, Hamlin, who was running behind his teammate, Bell, pushed him with his front bumper and sent him spinning. Bell, as a result, lost control of his car, and collected Chris Buescher of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and got wrecked.

Both drivers hit the wall at high speed. Bell, who suffered major damage, seemed to be fine after he brought down the net and got out of his car. Following the incident, the #11 driver took to his team radio to react to the incident. He said:

"What in the hell?" Hamlin says. "We weren't even up to speed yet."

Following this, the team told Denny Hamlin that it was his action that sent Bell spinning. On this, he further added,

"Man...apologies if that's on me. We weren't even up to speed yet. I don't know why that would have wrecked him. When he shot down to the bottom, I wasn't even sure I was actually on him."

Christopher Bell started the race from 11th place, two places ahead of Denny Hamlin. Zane Smith qualified on pole ahead of Kyle Busch.

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Chris Buescher's crew chief unhappy with Denny Hamlin

Chris Buescher's crew chief, Scott Graves, was unhappy after his driver got collected by Christopher Bell during the Jack Link's 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway. Hamlin ended up pushing Bell from behind, and as a result, Buescher was collected.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing - Source: Imagn Images

Following this, Graves took to his official social media account to share his reaction. Here's what he wrote on the micro-blogging site, X, formerly Twitter:

"This team works so hard every week, had our driver in position for the end of stage 1, and the guys that would consider themselves some of the best drivers in the world can't even get through a restart. I see why you have an insurance sponsor, @dennyhamlin. Can I file a claim?"

As of Lap 100 of 152, Ross Chastain is leading the race ahead of Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece. Denny Hamlin is running in 31st place.