No hard feelings? Kurt Busch had a beer with Denny Hamlin, who knocked him out of the NASCAR Playoffs

No fists, just suds for Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin even after the latter knocked the former out of the NASCAR Playoffs.

Kurt Busch may have had a day to forget at ISM Raceway, but he didn’t take out any of his frustration on the driver who ultimately finished off his chances at the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

That would be Denny Hamlin, who was already out of playoff contention prior to the Can-Am 500 this weekend. He was, however, driving hard for a win in the final stage, trying to keep his streak of seasons with at least one victory alive.

In the process, he couldn’t prevent his No. 11 Toyota from sliding up the track into a helpless Busch, who ricocheted off the outside wall and back into traffic, a chain reaction that also spelled doom for Chase Elliott’s already tenuous championship hopes.

You’d think that a sequence like this might have been like dropping a match into oil, given Hamlin’s occasionally unapologetic nature and the afternoon Busch had already experienced, one that included some colorful language after he was hit with a penalty for passing the pace car before entering the pits.

But Hamlin was contrite, and Busch apparently was in no mood to hold a grudge after the fact either.

(Props to the commenter who noted Hamlin might want to buy Elliott a beer too.)

One beer probably won’t make Busch feel that much better, given that at various times on Sunday afternoon, it appeared he might defy the odds and knock one of the Big 3 out of the Championship 4 — maybe even by winning the race at Phoenix. Still, it’s cool to see him accept the fact that sometimes the breaks in racing simply don’t go your way, and wherever he’s driving next season, Hamlin won’t have to be looking over his shoulder for him.