From NASCAR.com...
Hamlin vents frustration over teammate Stewart
20 driver close-lipped on matter Friday at Chicagoland
By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
JOLIET, Ill. -- Denny Hamlin said he still doesn't understand it. Tony Stewart obviously still doesn't get it.
And if they've talked, Stewart claims they will be keeping that to themselves.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he and Stewart wrecked to ruin their nights in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday, Hamlin admitted on Friday that Stewart's post-race tirade directed toward him after the incident both baffled and frustrated him.
Despite the fact that video replays clearly show Stewart appearing to cause the accident by hitting Hamlin from behind, Stewart claimed it was the result of Hamlin driving a slower car and refusing to get out of his way. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates were running 1-2 at the time. (read more)
Stewart also claimed that Hamlin had attempted to wreck him one day earlier during practice for the Pepsi 400, and closed by openly questioning whether the younger Hamlin understood the meaning of being a teammate.
"Sure it disappointed me. It definitely did," Hamlin said. "Even if it had been a situation where I would have wrecked him from behind, he still shouldn't have thrown me as far under the bus as he did.
"But I was the guy in front."
Hamlin went on to say that he expected to talk with Stewart later Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, where both he and Stewart were preparing for this Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400. He admitted that he refused to return a phone message Stewart left him earlier in the week.
"I just frankly wasn't ready to talk to him," Hamlin said. "I didn't want to go on his radio show and talk to him or anything like that. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I wanted to do it face-to-face. I didn't want to go through a telephone wire to talk to him -- because I want to see his reaction. I want to know what he's thinking."
Yet it didn't appear that they had talked when Stewart was asked about it after qualifying Friday, several hours after Hamlin spoke out on the subject earlier in the morning. In fact, Stewart brusquely attempted to deflect all media inquiries into the matter.
"Guys, I'm not gonna talk about that this week," Stewart said. "That was last week. I'm onto this week. If you want to talk about something that's going on this week, great. If not, I don't have time to mess around with something that happened last week or two years ago or four years ago."
Asked if he would be comfortable racing with Hamlin this week and as a teammate in the future, Stewart replied: "Guys, I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not going to get into this game with you guys."
Yet Stewart did address the matter on his national radio show (watch video) earlier in the week, so he also was asked what the difference was between discussing it in that format and discussing it when the national media asked about it at a track.
"Because I choose to do it there. I don't choose to do it with this group of people," Stewart replied.
Hamlin, on the other hand, seemed to feel a need to speak openly about what he obviously felt was the betrayal of a teammate. He also said that team owners Joe Gibbs and J.D. Gibbs had encouraged he and Stewart to talk, and that he had no hard feelings about the Gibbs' not coming to his defense more strongly in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
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"I think at the time neither Joe nor J.D. had really seen a pretty good replay. I don't think they had realized," Hamlin said. "We've talked since then and I think they realize exactly what happened. Millions and millions of people watching with their opinions know what happened. You know, let them judge.
"I don't need to sit there and blame Tony. There is no need in that."
Hamlin admitted that much of what happened was just "Tony being Tony," but also that he is frustrated by that reality.
"I think every five, six months it seems like he kind of goes through a very angry stage," Hamlin said. "Evidently I set something off last weekend. But Tony is going to be Tony. He's always like that.
"I'm not saying it's OK. But it's just him."
He said that Stewart has been mostly a faithful and helpful teammate. But he admitted that what happened in Daytona has shaken him.
"You learn with Tony you've just got to let him speak, whether he's got an opinion of NASCAR, or tires, or whatever it is. Just let him speak, and you can agree or disagree later. ... I knew was going to be frustrated about being out of the race, but I thought it was going to be more of a frustration with himself and not with me. But I think he was just, at the time, looking for somebody to blame on the deal," Hamlin said.
"I've talked about it [with Joe and J.D.]. The only thing we talked about -- me, J.D. and Joe -- is the way I handle things. I felt like I handled them the easiest way I possibly could, to avoid controversy. I chose not to throw Tony under the bus -- and he chose a different road than what I did."
After 18 races, Hamlin currently sits second in the 2007 driver point standings and has won one race. Stewart sits seventh in the standings and hasn't won yet this season -- the longest he's gone into a season without a victory since his rookie year in 1999.
Yet Hamlin insisted that Stewart remains the top dog in the Gibbs racing organization.
"I don't feel like I'm ahead of him. He's still the leader of Joe Gibbs Racing, without a doubt," Hamlin said. "He's a guy, who really, when I need help, I'll still go to regardless.
"But there's a point where being a leader doesn't always make you right."
To further illustrate his point, he talked more about both the wreck at Daytona and Stewart's accusations that followed it regarding both the accident and the supposed near-accident that Stewart said Hamlin caused during practice there.
"We are in the business of racing -- not pulling over and passing. Especially at Daytona," Hamlin said. "I think he mentioned that I should have pulled over and let guys go. So how many do I let go? Do I let three or four go, or what?
"I just think it was a misjudgment call. ... It was a situation where he was tempered up, and I wasn't. And that's where you got the two opinions varying."
As for the accusation that he almost wrecked his teammate in practice, Hamlin smiled and replied: "The only thing I can think of is we were in the draft and at one point coming to the start-finish, he got right to my bumper. I pulled down to get a draft off him, and he went lower to try to pass me.
"He talked about the whole teammate thing, and learning what a teammate is. I figured in that situation, it would be safe to pull in front of him. Evidently not, and he took it as I was blocking him. Either way, it was a situation where two different drivers were going after two different things.
"I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed -- even though we can sit here and say he totally threw me under the bus in front of millions of people on TV. ... Up until last week, he's been a great teammate to me, a great leader. He's taught me a lot of things. But, you know, I always knew you got to take things with Tony with a grain of salt. You might want to listen to him, but you don't always want to do the same things he does."
That may have included how a feisty Stewart conducted himself in front of the media Friday.
Told that Hamlin had talked extensively about their relationship and the Daytona incident earlier in the day, Stewart said only: "I know that he has. It doesn't matter what he's done. I choose to [not talk more about it] because it's what I want to do. I don't want to keep dragging it out. The more we keep talking to you guys about it, the longer you guys drag it out and it makes our lives miserable.
"If I had just kept my mouth shut last week like I should have done, I wouldn't have to even be worrying dealing with you guys about it this week."
At least he appeared to get that last part right. Told also that Hamlin said they would speak and attempt to mend fences Friday, Stewart again refused to offer any information on that front.
"Don't worry about that," Stewart snapped.
Hamlin vents frustration over teammate Stewart
20 driver close-lipped on matter Friday at Chicagoland
By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
JOLIET, Ill. -- Denny Hamlin said he still doesn't understand it. Tony Stewart obviously still doesn't get it.
And if they've talked, Stewart claims they will be keeping that to themselves.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he and Stewart wrecked to ruin their nights in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday, Hamlin admitted on Friday that Stewart's post-race tirade directed toward him after the incident both baffled and frustrated him.
Despite the fact that video replays clearly show Stewart appearing to cause the accident by hitting Hamlin from behind, Stewart claimed it was the result of Hamlin driving a slower car and refusing to get out of his way. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates were running 1-2 at the time. (read more)
Stewart also claimed that Hamlin had attempted to wreck him one day earlier during practice for the Pepsi 400, and closed by openly questioning whether the younger Hamlin understood the meaning of being a teammate.
"Sure it disappointed me. It definitely did," Hamlin said. "Even if it had been a situation where I would have wrecked him from behind, he still shouldn't have thrown me as far under the bus as he did.
"But I was the guy in front."
Hamlin went on to say that he expected to talk with Stewart later Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, where both he and Stewart were preparing for this Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400. He admitted that he refused to return a phone message Stewart left him earlier in the week.
"I just frankly wasn't ready to talk to him," Hamlin said. "I didn't want to go on his radio show and talk to him or anything like that. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I wanted to do it face-to-face. I didn't want to go through a telephone wire to talk to him -- because I want to see his reaction. I want to know what he's thinking."
Yet it didn't appear that they had talked when Stewart was asked about it after qualifying Friday, several hours after Hamlin spoke out on the subject earlier in the morning. In fact, Stewart brusquely attempted to deflect all media inquiries into the matter.
"Guys, I'm not gonna talk about that this week," Stewart said. "That was last week. I'm onto this week. If you want to talk about something that's going on this week, great. If not, I don't have time to mess around with something that happened last week or two years ago or four years ago."
Asked if he would be comfortable racing with Hamlin this week and as a teammate in the future, Stewart replied: "Guys, I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not going to get into this game with you guys."
Yet Stewart did address the matter on his national radio show (watch video) earlier in the week, so he also was asked what the difference was between discussing it in that format and discussing it when the national media asked about it at a track.
"Because I choose to do it there. I don't choose to do it with this group of people," Stewart replied.
Hamlin, on the other hand, seemed to feel a need to speak openly about what he obviously felt was the betrayal of a teammate. He also said that team owners Joe Gibbs and J.D. Gibbs had encouraged he and Stewart to talk, and that he had no hard feelings about the Gibbs' not coming to his defense more strongly in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Page 1
Page 2
"I think at the time neither Joe nor J.D. had really seen a pretty good replay. I don't think they had realized," Hamlin said. "We've talked since then and I think they realize exactly what happened. Millions and millions of people watching with their opinions know what happened. You know, let them judge.
"I don't need to sit there and blame Tony. There is no need in that."
Hamlin admitted that much of what happened was just "Tony being Tony," but also that he is frustrated by that reality.
"I think every five, six months it seems like he kind of goes through a very angry stage," Hamlin said. "Evidently I set something off last weekend. But Tony is going to be Tony. He's always like that.
"I'm not saying it's OK. But it's just him."
He said that Stewart has been mostly a faithful and helpful teammate. But he admitted that what happened in Daytona has shaken him.
"You learn with Tony you've just got to let him speak, whether he's got an opinion of NASCAR, or tires, or whatever it is. Just let him speak, and you can agree or disagree later. ... I knew was going to be frustrated about being out of the race, but I thought it was going to be more of a frustration with himself and not with me. But I think he was just, at the time, looking for somebody to blame on the deal," Hamlin said.
"I've talked about it [with Joe and J.D.]. The only thing we talked about -- me, J.D. and Joe -- is the way I handle things. I felt like I handled them the easiest way I possibly could, to avoid controversy. I chose not to throw Tony under the bus -- and he chose a different road than what I did."
After 18 races, Hamlin currently sits second in the 2007 driver point standings and has won one race. Stewart sits seventh in the standings and hasn't won yet this season -- the longest he's gone into a season without a victory since his rookie year in 1999.
Yet Hamlin insisted that Stewart remains the top dog in the Gibbs racing organization.
"I don't feel like I'm ahead of him. He's still the leader of Joe Gibbs Racing, without a doubt," Hamlin said. "He's a guy, who really, when I need help, I'll still go to regardless.
"But there's a point where being a leader doesn't always make you right."
To further illustrate his point, he talked more about both the wreck at Daytona and Stewart's accusations that followed it regarding both the accident and the supposed near-accident that Stewart said Hamlin caused during practice there.
"We are in the business of racing -- not pulling over and passing. Especially at Daytona," Hamlin said. "I think he mentioned that I should have pulled over and let guys go. So how many do I let go? Do I let three or four go, or what?
"I just think it was a misjudgment call. ... It was a situation where he was tempered up, and I wasn't. And that's where you got the two opinions varying."
As for the accusation that he almost wrecked his teammate in practice, Hamlin smiled and replied: "The only thing I can think of is we were in the draft and at one point coming to the start-finish, he got right to my bumper. I pulled down to get a draft off him, and he went lower to try to pass me.
"He talked about the whole teammate thing, and learning what a teammate is. I figured in that situation, it would be safe to pull in front of him. Evidently not, and he took it as I was blocking him. Either way, it was a situation where two different drivers were going after two different things.
"I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed -- even though we can sit here and say he totally threw me under the bus in front of millions of people on TV. ... Up until last week, he's been a great teammate to me, a great leader. He's taught me a lot of things. But, you know, I always knew you got to take things with Tony with a grain of salt. You might want to listen to him, but you don't always want to do the same things he does."
That may have included how a feisty Stewart conducted himself in front of the media Friday.
Told that Hamlin had talked extensively about their relationship and the Daytona incident earlier in the day, Stewart said only: "I know that he has. It doesn't matter what he's done. I choose to [not talk more about it] because it's what I want to do. I don't want to keep dragging it out. The more we keep talking to you guys about it, the longer you guys drag it out and it makes our lives miserable.
"If I had just kept my mouth shut last week like I should have done, I wouldn't have to even be worrying dealing with you guys about it this week."
At least he appeared to get that last part right. Told also that Hamlin said they would speak and attempt to mend fences Friday, Stewart again refused to offer any information on that front.
"Don't worry about that," Stewart snapped.
