The war of words on Twitter between NASCAR drivers Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch Friday during practice runs in Chicago grew when Busch's Toyota teammate Denny Hamlin jumped into the fray.
.@NASCAR is showing favoritism to @ToyotaRacing ?? when did this start? #encumbered. Concentrate on your own program bro.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) September 15, 2017
Hamlin was responding to an earlier tweet by Keselowski, who races for Ford, suggesting that Toyota Racing's success was more to do with favoritism from NASCAR than the work of the team. Toyota Racing took the top 4 spots on Friday.
We are all in for a rude awakening.
Haven't seen NASCAR let a manufacturer get this far ahead since the 70s https://t.co/LttpCz9vJZ— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) September 15, 2017
That led to this profane response from Busch.
? STFU https://t.co/EjexBIHWwE
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) September 15, 2017
Busch and Keselowski are longtime rivals known to have an icy relationship, but things certainly heated up between the two on social media. Busch later explained to NBC Sports that he felt Keselowski's tweets were out of line and discounting all the hard work his team has put in.
"I've just got to say of how proud I am of all our Toyota, TRD teammates and guys and teams, Furniture Row, Joe Gibbs Racing, TRD ... the whole package is there. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication from a lot of great people, and I feel like right now all he's doing is slapping these people across the face."
Keselowski wanted to get in another word via Twitter.
It's 2017. When you're about to lose an argument you call people names rather than face facts. https://t.co/IJnFiQOAXY
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) September 15, 2017
The flag drops at 3 P.M. Eastern Sunday. We'll see then how well these tweets turn into action on the track.