Discussions about teamwork at Talladega quickly turned into a controversy when Denny Hamlin accused Chevrolet of taking orders from Hendrick Motorsports. Already frustrated as his own championship hopes slipped away, Hamlin took issue with Ross Chastain, who was a lap down but still blocked a lane and later helped push title rival Kyle Larson. A few days later, the Toyota driver took to his podcast and didn’t hold back in his criticism of NASCAR’s winningest team.

“Do we really honestly believe that RCR is getting the same information as Hendrick from Chevy?” Hamlin boldly said. As far as he was concerned, Chastain and the other Chevy drivers have no say in Hendrick’s plans, and their job was simply to help Larson win the title. Rick Hendrick did not appreciate those accusations, firing back at the No. 11 driver with a very different account of how Chevrolet distributes its technical support.

“Someone said that we get all the information from Chevrolet, and that’s not the case, and he can answer this. All of the teams that are the three organizations get the same information at the same time, and how they decide to use it is up to them. But all the information from Chevrolet and the Tech Center comes to all of those three teams: it’s Childress, Trackhouse, and us,” Hendrick said in an interview after a euphoric season finale in Miami.

“So there’s no funnel that we get it and give it to whoever else. So he can answer that for you if he wants to, but that’s the way it works.”

Once the Chase began, Larson found his footing after an underwhelming regular season, winning at Gateway and Kansas to take the championship lead into Talladega. Hamlin, meanwhile, saw his season take a turn for the worse due to mistakes by both himself and his team in several races.

Larson was also Chevrolet’s only realistic title contender, with the next-best driver, Chase Elliott, sitting ninth. Hamlin, on the other hand, had to contend with fellow Toyota drivers Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick, all direct championship rivals.

Before the Talladega race on October 25, SiriusXM reporter Danielle Trotta reported that Chevrolet wanted its teams to help Larson maximize stage points and avoid getting stranded in the draft. That raised eyebrows, particularly when Chastain appeared to block a lane while running a lap down in Stage 1. This helped the No. 5 driver get seven crucial stage points by finishing fourth. Hamlin, however, finished 17th and got no stage points, which dealt a huge blow to his title hopes.

Later on in the race, Larson also received drafting help from fellow Chevrolet drivers on the final lap before edging teammate William Byron by 0.041 seconds. NASCAR later reviewed the SMT data for Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cole Custer to determine whether any had deliberately lifted off the throttle to let Larson through. Officials found that none had, ruling out evidence of deliberate manipulation of the finish.

Hamlin, however, felt Chevrolet’s other teams were being asked to put Larson’s championship interests ahead of their own. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, he laid out what he believed was the hierarchy within Chevrolet.

“I’m going to put Hendrick at the top, then below that is Chevrolet, and below that is Trackhouse. Below that is the crew chief and then below that is the driver. That is the totem pole in which (Chastain) is answering. They have no choice,” he said.

Hendrick didn’t directly respond to Hamlin or mention him by name after the Miami finale. Larson’s third championship was the main talking point, but Hendrick did deny controlling what technical information other Chevrolet teams receive.

Chevrolet’s technical support isn’t limited to Hendrick. The GM Charlotte Technical Center, which opened in 2022 next to the HMS campus, provides engineering support, simulators and other resources to Chevrolet teams. Hendrick and Richard Childress Racing also work together through their Hendrick Childress Development (HCD) alliance. The two organisations share engine-development information and work on common components, with the aim of combining their resources rather than doing the same work separately.

This doesn’t necessarily mean every Chevrolet team gets exactly the same information, but it does show that the technical support isn’t simply controlled by Hendrick.

Manufacturer orders are not entirely new in NASCAR. During the 2024 Martinsville playoff race, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon, both Chevrolet drivers, formed a two-wide blockade behind HMS driver William Byron in the closing laps to help protect his Championship 4 spot. It wasn’t a good look for neutral fans who wanted to see a fair fight, but Chevrolet wasn’t the only manufacturer involved. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace also slowed dramatically on the final lap to let Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell pass. NASCAR found that multiple drivers and teams had manipulated the outcome and handed down more than $600,000 in fines a few days later.

Toyota’s relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing offers an interesting comparison. When Toyota announced its partnership with 23XI in 2020, it encouraged technical information-sharing and communication between its teams.

The agreement also allowed 23XI to purchase chassis and other services from JGR. Hamlin later described the arrangement as a two-way exchange, with both organisations having insight into what the other was doing. However, sharing information doesn’t guarantee the same results. In March 2026, Hamlin discussed how 23XI had won four of the first six races while JGR was struggling to match its early-season form.

He explained that teams use shared information as a starting point before developing their own setups through simulation, driver feedback, and engineering work. In other words, having access to the same data doesn’t mean teams will get the same results.

That’s also the point Hendrick is making. Chevrolet may provide its teams with the same technical information, but each organisation still has to make the most of it.

For now, both sides have made their positions clear. Hamlin has questioned the way Chevrolet operates, while Hendrick insists his team isn’t getting special treatment. But with manufacturers playing such a big role in modern NASCAR, how much influence one team has over the others will remain a talking point.