Hamlin says he isn’t sure if he would have made move Keselowski did at Texas
Denny Hamlin said he’s thought if he would have made the move Brad Keselowski did for the race lead at Texas on Sunday.
Keselowski tried to go between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson for the race lead into turn one off a late restart and Keselowski and Gordon made contact. The contact cut Gordon’s tire and while Keselowski finished third, Gordon was 29th. After Gordon confronted Keselowski after the race, a fracas happened.
“I don’t know. I think about that a lot and whether I would or would not,” Hamlin said on a conference call Tuesday. “[Keselowski] was on fresher tires. So saying that that was his only opportunity to get the win may not necessarily be a true statement. He still had two laps to get around.And if you push [Johnson] there past [Gordon], it was a battle between him and the [Johnson]. I don’t know. You know, it’s tough for me to say. And his points position, his actual position, I didn’t have the tires he had. So everyone has a different way of doing things”
“But I think a common feel amongst drivers is that what they call that, people are calling that a hole that that was a very small hole. And the car is call it six and a half, seven foot wide, that hole was six foot. It was not enough that a car was going to fit without being in contact. Somebody was going to have to pay the price. It was Jeff Gordon. And it made him have a bad day.”
Though, given that Hamlin and Keselowski had a run-in at Charlotte four weeks ago, perhaps it’s not too surprising Hamlin isn’t supporting the 2012 champion.
Here’s both an aerial view of the restart and from Kevin Harvick’s car. As you can see, there looks to be more than a car-width gap between Johnson and Gordon before Gordon moves back down. And Keselowski is committed to making the move before Gordon moves down. If he backs out of the gas, he loses a ton of spots.
Rusty Wallace, an ESPN analyst and former Sprint Cup Series champion who used to drive the same No. 2 car Keselowski drives currently, said he would have made the move.
“Jeff Gordon got the raw end because his left rear got bumped and he got a flat tire,” Wallace said. “But I don’t think there’s a driver in the world that would not have tried to put their car in that hole and go for it. He’s been aggressive. He’s ruffled some feathers, but I’ve seen a lot of other drivers do it, and I’d rather have a driver driving for me that’s aggressive instead of the other way around”
“You know, we’re going to work hard in our NASCAR show this coming weekend at Phoenix to kind of illustrate what happened and break it down, but I’m not saying this, I obviously feel like I’m giving a disclaimer here, I’m not saying this because I drove the 2 car, but I am kind of on Brad’s side on this one. I think I would have done the same thing. If I saw the hole I would have went for it, and obviously Jeff was the one that got his feathers ruffled on it. I have no idea how Kevin Harvick got involved in it or why he was involved in it, but that’s my take on it”
Harvick pushed Keselowski into the scrum after Gordon was talking to Keselowski. Once the push happened, the fracas broke out. Hamlin said that Keselowski’s lack of remorse hurts him in the garage.
“I think that the challenge a lot of drivers probably have right now with Brad is there’s no remorse,” Hamlin said. “He has the right to feel the way that he feels. But when there’s no accountability and you don’t … they’re going to be upset with you.
“So you just have to expect it. It’s tough to win a championship if nobody likes you. That is going to be a very, very tough task. So I mean I think that you’re just going to have to — you always have to just watch your mirror. And that’s a tough way to race. It really is a tough way to race.”
Hamlin also said Gordon’s reaction intensified when Keselowski wouldn’t engage with him, though he also said later Keselowski doesn’t have to apologize.
That the times that I’ve had tussles with Brad and other drivers, it’s just oh, well, that’s how a race is, just deal with it,” Hamlin said. “As drivers, you’re just looking at someone to say ‘I’m sorry I ruined your day, I screwed up, oh, well, I apologize.’ When that doesn’t get said, then immediately it just lights a fire in your stomach that all he cares — he doesn’t have any remorse. It’s just like oh, well, it’s your problem. And I think that just lights a fire in your insides, especially when you just had a bad day and your season could have just rested on that one mistake or whatever you want to call it. I think that that really set things off.”
“I think if Brad would have talked to Jeff and said, man, I was going for a hole. It was my only chance, you know, I’m really sorry it cut your tire, I think it goes totally different. Instead, it was oh, well, sorry, bud, you left a hole. If he did it to me I would have had the same reaction as Jeff. No question. I think that’s what escalated it the most”
Earlier Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR radio, NASCAR CEO Brian France said NASCAR would “step in” because of the intensity of the situation after the race. Any penalties are expected Tuesday afternoon.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
