Denny Hamlin makes good on threat, spins Brad Keselowski at Homestead
CJM Racing's Denny Hamlin (11) makes contact with JR Motorsports' Brad Keselowski during the Ford 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Denny Hamlin proclaimed he was “a man of my word” after he followed through on his threat to retaliate against Brad Keselowski in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, spinning his newfound rival just 35 laps into the Ford 300.
The possibility of an incident had been built up since Keselowski wrecked Hamlin at Phoenix, and Hamlin had vowed several times to return the favor at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He did just that, nudging the back bumper of Keselowski’s JR Motorsports Chevrolet and blatantly spinning him in a move he hardly pretended to disguise.
“The sun was real bad at that point, and I really couldn’t see a whole lot,” Hamlin said, starting to laugh as his voice carried over the track’s public address system, drawing cheers from the fans.
“I feel great right now,” he added. “It was well worth it.”
NASCAR issued a one-lap penalty after Hamlin’s incident, which Hamlin said was perfectly acceptable given the blatant nature of his actions. He said he felt like he had won the race after leaving pit road, getting salutes and applause from several crews along the way.
“To me, it’s a victory for all the guys he’s taken out over the last 10 weeks,” said Hamlin, who drove for CJM Racing at Homestead. “A lot of guys took swipes at him and missed. So to be honest with you, I’m surprised he was able to drive it in.”
Keselowski was far from amused, and said Hamlin has “got a lot of problems on and off the race track.”
“I have a feeling when he gets up in the morning, he’s not going to feel any better about himself,” Keselowski said.
Keselowski said he wasn’t concerned about seeing Hamlin in his rear-view mirror, even when he spun on the eighth lap with Hamlin’s No. 11 car just behind him.
Keselowski returned to the race, and he and Hamlin quickly found each other again. Coming out of Turn 4 at lap 35, Hamlin made his move.
“I didn’t really expect anything,” Keselowski said. “I really wasn’t thinking about it. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. So I wasn’t really fretting over it. But it is what it is. I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and probably not think about it.”
Hamlin likely will still have the wreck on his mind, and said he expected Keselowski to remember Saturday’s race long into the future.
“My objective today was to try to win the race first, and take care of him second,” Hamlin said. “It’s going to be other days we’re going to be racing and he’s still going to think about it when I’m in his rear-view mirror.”
Nationwide Series director Joe Balash said no further penalties will be issued. The one-lap penalty was given at least partially because officials were aware that Hamlin was out for revenge.
“That takes benefit of the doubt out of the equation, where if in a different situation, someone might have looked at that as more of a racing situation with two cars getting together coming out of [Turn] 4,” Balash said.
Hamlin said he didn’t expect the hostility to continue between the two drivers next year in Sprint Cup racing, in part because “it’s tough to have a rivalry with a mid-pack driver.”
“It looks bad on me,” he said. “I shouldn’t be racing him anyway.”
Hamlin, who was driving the GodSpeaks.com-sponsored Toyota for CJM, said he intentionally exacted his eye-for-an-eye revenge where Keselowski’s car wouldn’t be damaged. He even said the incident was good for the fans who heard his trash-talk all week.
“The thing is the fans got their money's worth,” he said. “If they drove an extra 200 miles or [bought] a ticket to this race because they heard what I said last week, then as far as I'm concerned we're making the sport better.”
J.D. Gibbs, Hamlin’s team owner in Cup racing, slyly said he thought Hamlin’s wreck was the result of an “aero issue.”
“I just work here,” Gibbs said, practically shrugging.
Driver Jeff Burton, who finished third and is generally considered a respected leader in the garage, said Hamlin “did the right thing.”
“When you constantly get spun out by the same car, there comes a time where you’ve got to put your foot down and not take it,” Burton said. “And the next time Keselowski thinks about spinning him out, he’ll think about it. It sucks when it gets that far. It should never get that far. You should be able to sit back and have a conversation.”
That’s precisely why Hamlin said he took the actions he did – that Keselowski was too “hard-headed” to listen or apologize.
“What I’ve said with Brad is all he had to say is that he was sorry – be remorseful, say you made a mistake,” Hamlin said. “That’s all you’ve got to do – say you made a mistake, and we’re even. [Then] I don’t have to do anything, I don’t have to take care of it myself.
“He thinks it’s OK what he did last week and what he did at Dover, what he did at Memphis, he thinks all that is OK. So then, you have to get the respect from him by getting his attention.”
Said Keselowski: “I’m cool. I was cool before and I am cool after. ... We’re ready to move on and hopefully he is too.”
