Denny Hamlin vows to retaliate against Brad Keselowski
Denny Hamlin says he will retaliate against Brad Keselowski after contact late in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
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AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin vowed that he will retaliate against JR Motorsports’ Brad Keselowski during the Nationwide Series race next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After contact with Keselowski resulted in Hamlin spinning late in the Able Body Labor 200 on Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway, Hamlin and Keselowski had a discussion in the Nationwide Series garage. It was the third time in the last nine weeks that they were involved in an incident together.
“I just wanted to say [to Keselowski], ‘Hey, look, you wreck me at Watkins Glen last year, you wreck me at Dover this year, you force me into the three-wide wreck at California, how many times have I wrecked you? Zero. Never have I wrecked you. Until I get back in a Nationwide car,’” Hamlin said after the meeting.
“It’s a self-policing garage. NASCAR doesn’t want to get in the middle of it. ... If it’s the opinion of me or maybe one other guy, then, hey, maybe it’s me. But every driver in the garage comes up to me and says, ‘That guy is a complete whack job.’ Not everyone is wrong and he’s right. And the thing is, he says, ‘What do you want me to say?’ I say, ‘You don’t want to say you're sorry? Nothing? It’s cool?’ And he says, ‘I’m cool.’ And I said, ‘All right, we’re cool then.’”
Obviously, Hamlin didn’t seem too thrilled with the conversation with Keselowski.
“I could talk to this … concrete right here and it would talk back more,” Hamlin said.
After the race, Keselowski didn’t seem to think there should be any payback.
“Denny got in the back of me and pushed me up the track and I was going to return the favor,” Keselowski said. “When he did it to me, I saved it, and when I did it to him, he didn’t save it. We just got in a pushing match. I don’t really hold any grudges. I don’t know why he wanted to do that. It’s just the way racing is, I guess.”
Hamlin seemed irked that Keselowski implied that he could handle a car better.
“Let me tell you something, the one thing he ain’t got is more talent than me,” Hamlin said.
Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said he would not approve of retaliation.
“Race drivers, in the heat of battle, say a lot of things,” Balash said. “We had a conversation. A lot of things were said. There will be a whole different scenario when we get to the race track next week. We’ve got a whole week to manage the expectations of next week. You never condone retaliation.”
