Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch Clash On Dale Jr.'s NASCAR Crew Chief Role

Newsweek

4 days ago

Following Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first win as crew chief for NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch at Pocono, Kyle Busch dismissed the effort as a publicity stunt. However, Denny Hamlin disagreed with Busch, stating that Dale Jr. still had to manage strategy and take on the responsibility of a crew chief.
Co-owner of JR Motorsports, Dale Jr. took on the role of interim crew chief for his driver Zilisch, filling in for Mardy Lindley, who faced a one-race suspension. However, Busch argued that there was enough technology to have Lindley connected remotely, suggesting that there was no need for Dale Jr. to step in. Speaking to Dalton Hopkins, he said:
"It's all publicity, but spin it how you want it. He's just going to be a warm body sitting on top of the box. You know, they've got enough stuff from the shop and enough technology these days of being able to have the crew chief still involved. So, I could say I could do the same thing with one of my truck teams, but the guys at the shop would be the ones handling it.
Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone/GetGo Chevrolet, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone/GetGo Chevrolet, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania."Still, great, you know, cool. Eyeballs, and putting some attention on their team, and stuff like that. I mean, JRM is one of the top two, three teams in the Xfinity Series. So, let the best man win."
Hamlin took a slightly more diplomatic stand on the matter and admitted that credit must be given to Dale Jr. for taking on the responsibility. He said on his Actions Detrimental podcast:
"I think we've got to give Dale Jr. a little bit of due and certainly, don't want to undersell the fact that the team was doing the heavy lifting. I think that the answer can be somewhere in between of Kyle Busch says he's nothing but a warm body up there — the TV sells it as if he's an actual crew chief — I think the answer is probably somewhere in between. But you still got to be responsible, right?
"You got to get the messages to the driver, and he saw opportunities, strategy wise, and he's probably talking to the engineers about the strategy. The result was he was walking to Victory Lane at the end of that race and obviously, Connor drove that car fantastic."
Dale Jr. acknowledged in the post-race press conference at Pocono that he was under a ton of pressure while performing the role of a crew chief. Busch later clarified his stance on the matter on X, saying he was pointing out how silly crew chief suspensions are since they can be in touch with their teams, and stressed that he had nothing against Dale Jr. He wrote:
"This has nothing to do w any animosity towards Dale jr. I'm referencing how silly the suspensions for cc [crew chief] are these days w all the technology they have to stay in contact w their teams. I'd say the same thing if JG [Jeff Gordon] went on a HMS [Hendrick Motorsports] box as a cc." [sic]