Denny Hamlin had every reason to leave Martinsville frustrated with Joey Logano. Contact from the Team Penske driver on Lap 215 sent Hamlin and Christopher Bell spinning, disrupting the afternoon for the two Joe Gibbs Racing title contenders.
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However, after speaking directly with Logano and looking back at the incident, Hamlin has offered a more measured explanation: his old rival may simply not have known he was there.
Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin revealed that he had asked Logano why he tried to force his way into a three-wide situation.
There was another detail behind that question. The three cars were among the last on the track after taking the wave-around, and Hamlin did not believe there was anyone immediately behind them to make such an aggressive move necessary.
“I said, ‘Hey, did you really feel like you had to jam it in there three-wide? There was actually nobody behind us; we were the last cars on the racetrack because we had to take the wave-around from the Hocevar self-spin,'” Hamlin recalled asking him.
Logano’s answer changed how Hamlin viewed the contact.
“He said, ‘I’ll be honest with you. I thought the 20 was just blocking me down the straightaway. I didn’t know he was on the inside of you,'” Hamlin added.
The No. 20 in that exchange was Bell, who was alongside Hamlin as Logano made his move. From Logano’s perspective, Hamlin said, it may have looked as though Bell was simply trying to shut the door on him. Hamlin could see how that impression might have formed, and he chose not to turn the incident into another public argument.
“And I looked at it, and I’m like, I can see where that’d be a possibility. And so I just said, ‘Gotcha, I understand. I understand.’ I take him at face value on that,” Hamlin further explained.
That last line is the heart of Hamlin’s response. He is saying that, despite the detrimental nature of Logano’s move, after hearing his account, he does not believe the Team Penske driver deliberately drove into a situation knowing Hamlin was on the inside of Bell.
Hamlin also pointed to the in-car camera as a reason Logano’s explanation made sense: “If you look at his in-car camera, you can’t see me,” he said. Without Hamlin visible in the frame, Logano would have seen Bell gaining position or moving down the straightaway and may have read it as a block.
Hamlin then put himself in Logano’s position: “And so it looks like Joey got a run off, and it looks like, if I’m Joey, the 20 is just trying to block me. And he’s like, ‘Well, yeah, I’m just going to pop him here and send him a little bit,’ and I just was the guy that was there.”
This is an interesting observation for someone who has a history with Logano. Their rivalry dates back to Logano’s departure from Joe Gibbs Racing for Team Penske in 2013, with verbal exchanges and on-track incidents adding fuel over the years.
The tension boiled over again at Martinsville in 2019, when Hamlin moved Logano out of the way while battling for the win and the two exchanged words on pit road. More recently, however, Hamlin publicly praised Logano after his North Wilkesboro victory and shook hands with him, a moment that surprised fans accustomed to seeing the two as adversaries.
The latest incident came at a particularly difficult point in Hamlin’s championship campaign. He had started from the pole, but the No. 11 team’s decision to stay out through the opening stage cost him track position and stage points. Hamlin was already trying to recover from that gamble when the contact occurred. He eventually finished sixth, while Larson recovered from going a lap down to finish ninth and preserve his championship advantage.
It also does not change the bigger problem for the No. 11 team: Hamlin needed a major points swing at Martinsville, particularly with Larson struggling, and did not get one. Larson entered Martinsville with a 73-point lead over then-second-placed Hamlin, who slipped to third after the race. Bell is now second and trails Larson by 67 points heading into the finale at Homestead.
Denny Hamlin has admitted that his chance to win the elusive championship is now “unrealistic.” Overcoming a 70-point deficit in one race is near impossible, and all Kyle Larson needs to do for his third Cup Series title is execute a clean race.