Denny Hamlin did not hold back when relaying his thoughts about the scuffle 23XI Racing driver Corey Heim was involved in at Martinsville.
Hamlin — a co-owner of 23XI Racing alongside NBA legend Michael Jordan — spoke about the post-race incident at Martinsville on Saturday, Sept. 26 following the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 during his podcast, “Actions Detrimental” on Monday, Sept. 28.
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Heim, who will drive full-time for 23XI in NASCAR’s Cup Series next season, was attacked by three crew members of Chad Bryant Racing following the late-model stock-car race.
“Just complete classlessness from Chad Bryant, the owner and his team to wait on Corey,” Hamlin said. “Listen to what they did. Those (expletive) cowards waited on Corey Heim to leave his car and leave his team, and then jump him while he was on the way to his hauler.”
NASCAR has not yet publicly announced any discipline for Chad Bryant and his crew, but Hamlin would like to see the governing body bring the hammer down on those who targeted Heim.
“I don’t know who’s in charge of NASCAR Regional, but there is absolutely no way that any of those guys should be in a pit lane for the next year, at least,” Hamlin said. “And I want them to say publicly what they do to them. And if it’s nothing, I will have a major problem. But none of those cowards should be in a pit lane in the foreseeable future.”
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Hamlin added: “I got no respect for those guys.”
Heim — who won two Cup Series races this season on a part-time schedule, taking checkered flags at the Brickyard 400 and Naval Base Coronado — finished second on Saturday night to Caden Kvapil at Martinsville in one of the most prestigious late-model races there is. Apparently unhappy with how Heim raced him, Treyton Lapcevich drove into Heim’s right side in turn 1 during the cool-down lap, and then Heim’s No. 22 Toyota went airborne, climbing over the front of Lapcevich’s No. 77 machine. The wreck basically destroyed both cars.
After cars parked on pit road, Lapcevich was on his way to confront Heim, but was stopped by Bryant. Moments later, as Heim was exiting pit road and on his way to his hauler, Bryant and two other crew members from the team were captured on video throwing punches toward Heim near Martinsville’s iconic infield hot dog stand.
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Heim seemed to evade most of the punches and didn’t return fire. After leaving Martinsville, Heim posted a selfie with a thumbs up on X with a caption that read, “Solid effort, but at least make it count next time.” On Monday, Heim posted another photo on X of the menu sign from the hot dog stand — which received one of the punches intended for Heim — hanging in his home with a caption that read, “New office piece. Poor thing took a beating this weekend.”
The fight was broken up after about 20 seconds by deputies with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and Heim went to his hauler. When he was ready to leave the track, Heim was escorted out by two deputies.
“(Lapcevich) like pinned me onto the curb for some reason and just kept turning left,” Heim said from pit road before the fight. “And then my right front hopped his left front, and destroyed a perfectly good race car. So, props to him for that. Really classy. I really don’t understand, I mean, we’re racing for the lead and I can’t see what he sees. He just tried to destroy my car under cool-down laps and succeeded.”
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Heim told USA TODAY Sports afterwards that Martinsville marked his final late-model race of the year. He’ll have two more Cup Series races in the No. 67 Toyota with 23XI this season on Oct. 11 at Charlotte and Nov. 8 at Homestead.
On Monday evening, after Hamlin’s podcast was published, Lapcevich issued a statement on X saying, “What happened after the race with Corey was wrong, and it should not have happened. While I was not involved in the incident, I want to be clear that I do not condone any actions that took place. … I’m glad Corey was able to walk away from the situation okay. Those actions were unacceptable, and they do not reflect who I am as a person or as a competitor.”
Generally, the status quo for fighting in NASCAR in recent years is that the governing body allows drivers to exchange fisticuffs without penalty, but will penalize crew members who get involved. For example, neither Carson Hocevar or Ryan Blaney were fined for their recent post-race fight at Bristol.
Online records for the Henry County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia show no incident reports filed from the race at Martinsville on Saturday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denny Hamlin calls crew that jumped Corey Heim at Martinsville ‘cowards’
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