Denny Hamlin says score with Brad Keselowski must be evened
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin says he still owes Brad Keselowski and plans to even the score. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A week after vowing revenge, Denny Hamlin didn’t exactly back off his threat to even the score with rival Brad Keselowski.
Speaking Friday after his qualifying lap at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hamlin said while he won’t go out of the way to ruin Keselowski’s day with a wreck, the time has passed for apologies.
“People talk about me versus him, but people don’t understand – I’ve been wrecked four times by him!” Hamlin said. “I’ve not wrecked him any. So it’s a one-sided scale that eventually has to even up. Maybe not fully, but that scale has got to tip a little bit. I’ve gotten the short end of the deal every time.”
The latest incident came in last week’s Nationwide Series race at Phoenix. After Hamlin bumped Keselowski, the JR Motorsports driver responded by spinning Hamlin.
“He’s wrecked our cars, he’s put our fabricators through hell,” Hamlin said. “And it’s not just us – there’s four guys at Memphis he wrecked.
“He’s got the speed and everything, but he thinks the way he does things is the right way, and truthfully, it’s not. Anybody inside this garage that knows anything about this sport will tell you that it’s not.”
Following last week’s race, Hamlin and Keselowski spoke at the Nationwide Series hauler. But Hamlin grew even more frustrated with the younger driver and was dissatisfied with the result of the conversation.
“The thing is with Brad, I’ve given him plenty of opportunities to say, ‘Sorry’ or ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’” Hamlin said. “And he’s just hard-headed enough to where he thinks that’s the way he should do things, so you gotta ... look at the scales.”
Hamlin praised NASCAR for not penalizing Keselowski last week – Keselowski was called to the NASCAR hauler for a conversation but was not put on probation for aggressive driving. Hamlin, who is driving for CJM Racing on Saturday, said drivers should be able to handle things themselves.
“I think NASCAR knows that this is a self-policing sport,” he said. “I applaud them for not doing anything with Brad last week. Let us fix it. Drivers are going to fix it – if I don’t, somebody else is.”
As Hamlin spoke, Keselowski’s team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood nearby speaking with a group of reporters. Hamlin theorized that when Earnhardt Jr. and Keselowski part ways after this season, Keselowski will no longer be given a free pass by some of the hardcore Earnhardt Jr. supporters.
“He gets away with a lot of things because he does drive for Junior, ultimately,” Hamlin said. “The fans that approve of him are diehard Junior fans that kind of are going to stick by you, no matter what you do, whether it’s right or wrong.
“And with that element being gone next year, then you’re going to get the negativity from the fans. He already has the negativity from the interior of the sport, whether it be the crew guys or the drivers or the team owners – that part of it is already there. But he’ll start seeing repercussions from fans once he gets out of the 88 car.”
So are fans tuning in for the Nationwide race guaranteed to see another chapter of the Hamlin/Keselowski rivalry? Hamlin left that up in the air.
“I’m not going to go out of my way to ruin his day or anything like that,” he said. “But believe me, every time he looks in his mirror he is going to think, ‘This guy behind me owes me.’ And sometimes that goes [further] than just taking a guy out when he expects it.”
