Kyle Larson's Talladega win still under fire from Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr.
NASCAR cleared Kyle Larson of crossing the yellow line in his Talladega win, but Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. still have questions about how the rule was applied.
Why the finish is still a story
NASCAR cleared Kyle Larson of breaking the yellow-line rule in his win at Talladega Superspeedway, and that ruling is still getting picked apart days later. Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are the two biggest names weighing in, and neither one is fully satisfied with how NASCAR handled the finish.
Larson won the YellaWood 500 at Talladega, and NASCAR determined afterward that he had not crossed below the double-yellow line that runs along the bottom of the track. That line exists so drivers can't duck under it to pass or hold a position, and forcing another driver below it to block a pass is also against the rules. The ruling let Larson's win stand, but it did not end the conversation.
What Hamlin said
Hamlin, 45, brought it up on his Actions Detrimental podcast. His take: "He did not go below the yellow line." He said he did not believe Larson went under the line on the final lap of the race.
Hamlin's bigger issue was consistency. He said he counted roughly three cars that went below the yellow line on that same final lap, and he pointed to Austin Hill's car as the clearest case, saying Hill went below the line coming off turn two. Hamlin's point wasn't really about defending or attacking Larson. It was about whether NASCAR applies the rule the same way to every car on the track, and whether officials are properly separating a driver who goes below the line to gain a spot from one who gets forced down there by someone else.
Earnhardt's angle
Dale Earnhardt Jr. used the Larson debate to revisit two older penalty calls he thinks NASCAR got wrong. He pointed back to superspeedway races where Justin Haley and Regan Smith were both penalized, and said that looking at the Larson decision now, he believes both of those earlier calls were unfair.
Put the two reactions together and the complaint lines up even with different examples. Hamlin and Earnhardt are both saying NASCAR's yellow-line calls haven't been consistent from one race to the next, separate from whether Larson's result was the right call this time.
Where this leaves it
Larson's win stands. He's also the current points leader in the 2026 Cup Series, which means his results and any officiating calls around him will keep getting extra scrutiny the rest of the season. NASCAR has not reopened the ruling, and nothing in Hamlin or Earnhardt's comments suggests that's coming.
What's left is a familiar argument for NASCAR fans: a judgment call on a blurry finish, two respected voices picking at how the rule gets applied, and a race result that isn't changing.
Facts per Yahoo Sports. Opinion is the taproom's.