23XI chief 'disappointed' with Denny Hamlin after Bubba Wallace incident

23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace spotter Freddie Kraft says he was “disappointed” with Denny Hamlin after Sunday’s massive NASCAR playoffs flashpoint at Kansas.

Wallace and Hamlin were apparently fighting it out for the win on the very last lap of the Hollywood Casino 400, when disaster struck. Denny ran Bubba up into the wall, allowing Chase Elliott to come through for a shock victory right at the checkered flag.

A potential win suddenly became fifth place for Bubba, and his hopes of advancing to the Round of 8 are now seriously compromised - he is 26 points below the cutline.

To add further spice to the incident, while Hamlin was driving as ever for the Joe Gibbs Racing team on Sunday, while he is also co-owner of 23XI Racing along with one Michael Jordan.

Not surprisingly that narrative meant a ton of fallout was inevitable this week, and Kraft provided a detailed debrief on what he thought of the events.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Denny Hamlin makes Cup Series confession as Kyle Busch split explained

Freddie Kraft on Denny vs Bubba

Speaking on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, he said: “I would think that Denny would want one of us to win the championship - his number’s on the building, isn’t it? I feel like I got that quote somewhere.

“Listen, I’m not really mad at him, I’m a little disappointed. I think if the roles were reversed he would be rather disappointed in us as well.

“Obviously it’s just guys racing hard - we raced the 20 just as hard the lap before, two laps before that. You’re pushing for everything you can - obviously the season is on the line for us. We’re not mathematically eliminated but going to the Roval 20-something out with Bubba is probably not ideal.”

While Kraft was disappointed with how things played out at Kansas, he understands totally why Hamlin did what he did. He did though feel it was ‘poor execution’ from the 44-year-old superstar.

“Listen he’s gotta win too, he’s going for 60 [career Cup Series victories], I think there’s other s*** going on with him that he’d really like to win right now. I don’t really fault him for it, it’s just one of those things where he has to do something.

“He can’t just push us down the back straightaway. That’s not fair to his 11 team, he’d be getting killed on social media today if he just pushes us down the back stretch and follows us through 3 and 4.

“I think that our mindset, or at least Bubba’s, looked to me like we could have obviously blocked more aggressively down the back stretch but I think Bubba has just said ‘he’s got a good run, he’s gonna get underneath me here, we’re gonna go into 3 and 4 and race this out and may the best man win’, and unfortunately I think it was just pretty poor execution to run up into us and allow the 9 car to get by both of us.”

Playoff hopes 'ruined' heading to Charlotte

Kraft knows Wallace is now really up against it heading into Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Roval in Charlotte (3pm ET, USA network), and it is not a good feeling.

“I mean he did ruin our chances - that’s what it is. The thing is, that’s what he always talks about - when he talks about racing other people, he talks about withdrawals and deposits. Well that was a pretty big f***ing withdrawal yesterday.

“So I mean if he continues to send me direct deposits I will get over this eventually, I assume. I don’t know how to feel about it because it did ruin our chances, it probably will ruin our chances to continue on to these playoffs. But what’s he supposed to do?”

While there is disappointment at 23XI Racing, the opposite was very evident post-race at JGR, with competition director Chris Gabehart saying he was “proud” of Hamlin.

The incident, of course, came just seven days after Hamlin had been at the center of another major flashpoint when he wrecked teammate Ty Gibbs at New Hampshire.

READ MORE: NASCAR champion Joey Logano hit with FOUR penalties at Kansas

Related