Fans Predict NASCAR’s Baby Face to Finally Turn Heel as Denny Hamlin Gets to His Antics

When Chris Buescher crossed the line at Kansas Speedway and the pylon lit up to declare him as the winner, the RFK Racing crew rejoiced. At the end of their tumultuous day filled with pit-stop woes and tight battles, for a brief period, Buescher was the man on the moon. But only a few moments later, all that energy from the #17 garage transferred to Kyle Larson’s camp instead.

Naturally, this left the RFK Racing driver extremely frustrated with the second-place finish. In the spur of the moment, the driver put out a tweet to address the on-track shenanigans he had to face throughout the AdventHealth400. But instead of calling out Kyle Larson for trading paint down the final stretch, Buescher took the route of commending NASCAR’s villain. While it may seem like an innocent gesture, fans felt there had to be something cryptic.

Chris Buescher highlights Denny Hamlin’s impressive stride whilst dismissing claims of throwing shade

It’s no secret that Denny Hamlin is slowly shaping up to be a prime contender for the 2024 title. Tied with William Byron for most wins this season, the #11 JGR driver has been on an incredible streak, as proven by his intuition ahead of Dover. That being said, Hamlin isn’t exactly known for racing his opponents too clean. Kyle Larson’s fate at Kansas last year reinforces that.

However, the 2024 season has been a little different. Not only has Denny Hamlin won races based on his tire-management expertise, but his clean racing with Buescher for the lead today proved that the JGR driver can win without compromising others; something Chris Buescher hopes to channel in the future himself. Throughout the AdventHealth400, there were many instances when Buescher and Hamlin were battling for the lead.

But as many expected a repeat of last year’s incident between Larson and Hamlin, the #11 driver was rather conservative when defending. Even on the final restart, Hamlin allowed Kyle Larson to jump the outside and didn’t put up much of a fight, which was in stark contrast to Larson and Buescher’s door banging. This led to Buescher stating; “As much 💩 as you might get @dennyhamlin, you’ve always raced me clean. Great battle today” 

Although it seemed like an innocent compliment at first, fans felt the shade was directed at Kyle Larson. After all, highlighting clean racing from Denny Hamlin, the same man that had wrecked Larson last time around, could mean that it wasn’t Denny Hamlin who was being too aggressive last year after all.

With that being said, Buescher quickly dismissed any animosity toward Kyle Latson with a sub-tweet; “To be clear for y’all… no shade at @KyleLarsonRacin. We were banging doors all the way to the checkered. He’s one heck of a racer, and that was just two drivers going for the trophy 👍🏼” 

Putting aside the cryptic messages, it’s safe to say Chris Buescher is aiming to take some inspiration from Denny Hamlin in future races. The driver claimed by many fans (including the RFK Racing Twitter at times) to be NASCAR’s ‘baby-face’ may just transition into the next Villain if things continue to go this way. With that said, fans of the RFK Racing driver felt it was only a matter of time before a win was in the bag.

The NASCAR community consoles a disappointed Buescher as they expect him to make a Heel Turn

After Brad Keselowski clinched a second-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway a few weeks ago, it’s safe to say Chris Buescher’s form at Kansas is a great sign of RFK Racing’s future. With both Keselowski and Buescher hovering around the top ten every race, fans believe Buescher’s heartbreak at Kansas may just be the fuel he needs to bring home that elusive win.

Reflecting on the improved packages that RFK Racing seems to be bringing as of late, one fan stated; “RFK has some nice cars right now, keep up the hard work man, More Ws are coming” With Ford’s Mustang Darkhorse yet to open its book of wins, the form RFK Racing is showing made one fan share; “Bummed out for you but great day all around, I was ready for RFK to be the first Ford team to get the Dark Horse into victory lane. I still think it’ll happen. 💯🙌🏻”

At the same time, other NASCAR fans believed Chris Buescher needed to channel his inner Denny Hamlin moving forward. A user asked Buescher to stand up for himself; “I was yelling for you to put him in the wall in 3 and 4. Helluva run. Your wins are coming.” whereas another expected him to race Larson equally hard next time around;  “Lesson learned. Race him how he races you next time.” 

After seeing how Buescher had been raced and connecting the dots with his cryptic tweets, fans felt Buescher’s time to stop holding back and take a classic WWE ‘heel turn’ where one turns from a heroic character to a villainous heel character. A wrestling fan concluded by sharing a GIF of Roman Reigns; “heel turn, Chris Buescher heel turn!!! I acknowledge you my tribal chief!!!☝

Now that the NASCAR community expects Chris Buescher to take inspiration from Denny Hamlin’s ‘Villain’ status, do you think that Larson and Buescher’s door-banging was uncalled for?