Ty Gibbs doubles down on Denny Hamlin beef with one finger response

Ty Gibbs vs Denny Hamlin has the potential to get very very ugly for Joe Gibbs Racing.

On Sunday at New Hampshire, the team which had won every single race in the first stage of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs imploded in a major way.

The flashpoint came when Gibbs - who is not involved in the playoffs - raced hard against teammate Hamlin - who very much is. The result was a hugely frustrated Hamlin, eventually snapping to put his 22-year-old teammate into the wall, and asking his crew: “What the f*** is he doing?’.

Since the dust settled on the track, the fallout has been significant with pretty much every NASCAR talking head providing an immediate hot take.

Hamlin himself said he felt “wronged” that a teammate who was not in the playoffs would race against him in such a way. He also said he expected team leadership to “quarterback” a debrief this week. Team owner Joe Gibbs didn’t appear to see it that way, saying he believed the drivers would handle the situation.

While there is little love for Ty in most quarters, anybody who expected him to back down and apologize for what happened on Sunday could well be wrong. If anything, it appears he is doubling down.

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How Ty Gibbs responded to Hamlin beef

Gibbs Jr did so without saying a single word, instead sharing cuts from NASCAR great Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast on his Instagram account, along with a single pointing finger.

In the clips, Harvick says he was shocked by Hamlin deciding to wreck his teammate, and claims it is a decision which could ‘blow up’ Joe Gibbs Racing.

Some of the prime cuts in Harvick's monologue (a fuller version can be found here) included these segments:

“When I look at this scenario, obviously the 11 [Hamlin] - as you can see him go up from the hash mark right there straight into the back of the 54. That was intentional, there’s no hiding that that wasn’t intentional.

“Here’s the question that I have - is that the moment that derails Denny Hamlin’s 2025 championship? That decision now is a decision that you have to talk about next week, it’s a decision that will divide the shop, it’s a decision that shows a lot of people that you just don’t really have a lot of respect.

“And you know I think that when he made that decision, it could be the moment that derails Denny Hamlin’s championship chase for 2025.”

Harvick also said: “As mature as Denny Hamlin has become, and as much of a leader as he has become, I’m really surprised that he chose that action in that moment during the playoffs for a championship.

“Now it’s the owner, the competition director, you, the 54, you’re gonna put the 20 in the middle of it, the 19 in the middle of it and now it’s the whole company. Now it’s the shop chatter.

“It really really really really surprised me that he made the decision that he made because it’s very evident when you watch the car go straight up the racetrack that it was intentional.

“The drivers and the management team are gonna have to sit down and you have to have a conversation about it - I’ve been in them. You don’t have a choice but to be in the middle of them.”

The latest development in this high-profile beef suggests it is not going to disappear any time soon, and things could get pretty messy in the JGR shop this week.

Although you would not know it, the team remains well placed in the Cup Series playoff standings heading to Kansas this weekend (Sunday, 3pm ET, USA). Christopher Bell, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe are all above the cutline as the Round of 12 continues.

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