MARTINSVILLE, Va.: Denny Hamlin was furious following Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway after Alex Bowman spun out the Joe Gibbs Racing driver on Lap 494 of 500 in the penultimate NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.
Hamlin had an eventful afternoon at the historic paperclip short track. Before the 35th Cup race of the season even saw the green flag, Hamlin was sent to the rear of the field after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry failed pre-race inspection twice.
Hamlin, however, made progress during the first stint of the race and stayed on the lead lap through the competition caution. After making his first pit stop of the afternoon, Hamlin then was tagged by NASCAR for speeding on pit road and sent to the back of the field again.
Despite his early race troubles, Hamlin made progress throughout the race and found himself where he needed to be in Stage 3 – contending for his third Cup Series win of the season.
Hamlin swiped the lead from JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 389 following a restart for a spin in Turn 2 by Daniel Suarez.
Hamlin controlled the field through Lap 477 when Bowman beat him at the start-finish line on a restart and tried to pull away from the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Bowman though didn’t go away and kept the heat for the lead and eventual race win leading up to the contact in Turn 4 seven laps from the finish.
Bowman was able to quickly surge away from the hungry pack of competitors behind him on the green-white-checkered finish and cruise to his fourth Cup win of 2021, Hamlin had to settle for 24th and showed his displeasure with Bowman about the contact by trying to interrupt Bowman’s post-race celebratory burnout on the frontstretch.
After the race, Hamlin continued to vent about the contact with Bowman.
“He’s (Bowman) just a hack,” express Hamlin. “Just an absolute hack. He gets his ass kicked by his teammates every week. He’s (expletive) terrible. He’s just terrible. He sees one opportunity, he takes it.”
Hamlin then continued to fire shots at the six-time Cup winner.
“Obviously, he’s got the fast car of the week and he runs 10th,” added Hamlin. “He didn’t want to race us there. We had a good, clean race. I moved up as high as I could on the racetrack to give him all the room I could, he still can’t drive.”
The drama from Martinsville will soon subside and Hamlin will have to regroup and prepare for Phoenix and another opportunity to bring Joe Gibbs Racing a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
While Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson is the favorite to win his first Cup Series championship, Hamlin knows anything can happen on Nov. 7 and he’ll try to be prepared for it.
“I mean, I’ve said for many, many weeks now that it would be a disservice if someone other than the two of us didn’t win,” added Hamlin. “I mean, he’s (Kyle Larson) obviously probably the most deserving over the course of the year that he’s had from start to finish.
“But, yeah, the format, you just never know. Nearly it all ended right there in turn three for silly reasons. That’s why I always preach about wish the sample size was bigger. You don’t have somebody else’s mistakes that can take you out of what you’ve done for the whole season.
“Certainly, I think when you look at the four that are in it, I think it’s the best four that you could possibly put in that race. I think all of them would be deserving champions.
“Obviously, Kyle would make the most sense.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
