“It seemed like overkill.” Ryan Blaney was definitely not in a good mood after getting put into the fence by Denny Hamlin. The Team Penske driver was running near the front row at the race restart in the final stage. Although before he could even make a bid for the race victory, his race got compromised due to contact with Hamlin. Initially, he held Hamlin in disdain, but it seems like the No. 12 driver has finally made peace with the No. 11 JGR.

Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin come to terms after Martinsville clash

For Blaney, the disapproval was warranted. After all, the No. 12 was looking good enough for a top 5 or better finish last Sunday. Other than that, the contact with Hamlin basically left his car in shambles. It did not affect Hamlin as adversely. However, in a recent interview, Blaney revealed that he was able to understand the difficulty he faced with Hamlin and didn’t have any hard feelings for the driver.

“I don’t think it was anything intentional; we were racing hard, and unfortunately, I got the bad end of it. Yeah, I think that’s just two guys trying. At that time, I was like, ‘Man, that was pretty uncalled for.’ 

“But once he explained his side of it. I kind of understood where he was coming from, and it still stinks for me, but it wasn’t anything intentional. So yeah, I don’t have too many hard feelings about it.”

So why did this situation occur between the two in the first place? Blaney then explains that he did not anticipate Hamlin making such a move. Martinsville, being such a narrow track, does not leave a lot of room for experiments. Blaney was already committed to running in the top lane. So when Hamlin was trying to rush past him, the contact was guaranteed.

“We were racing hard on the restart. It was kind of hard to hold the outside. Especially with good cars at the bottom. So I was fighting for my life up there, and looking back on it, I was holding him in tight, and he was using the track, and he yanks higher than I expected. 

“I think he got free of the Ford trying to put the throttle down. So he was higher than I thought he was going to be, and I was holding him tight once we kind of connected.”

In the end, Hamlin ended up winning P2 while Ryan Blaney was relegated to P6. There’s no doubt that Hamlin had the advantage of having the faster car, but if the contact had not happened, Blaney could’ve overtaken some other drivers.

But that was Ryan Blaney’s point of view. How did things look on Denny Hamlin’s end?

Denny Hamlin admits to ‘unnecessary move’

When Blaney was talking about the incident post-race, he did mention that he felt like the move was unnecessary. Instead of defending aggressively, Hamlin admits that he made a miscalculation against Ryan Blaney. During his podcast, he brought forward his side of the story.

“With Blaney, I thought I could get clear of him. I probably was up too high on the racetrack. Probably the midpoint of 3 and 4, and at that point, I think he was right on the right rear corner of my car. I felt us connect, and once we connected, I just drove him right into the fence.”

Denny Hamlin did not agree completely with Blaney’s ideas, though. He relegates the contact to a product of short-track racing. Hamlin further explains that his rear tire got loose, and he could not control the car, being that high up the racetrack. In the end, Blaney got punished because of his mistake, but that’s how racing at Martinsville goes.