An on-track incident between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano led to a post-race scuffle between the two drivers’ pit crews.
Hamlin and Logano, former Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates, came together on lap 349 of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway whilst battling for second position, tipping Logano into a spin and into the wall.
Once the race was over, Logano, who finished 17th, made a bee line for Hamlin, momentarily getting face-to-face with the Joe Gibbs driver before being pulled away by the pit crews.
“He said he was coming for me.” Hamlin told television crews after the incident. “I usually don’t see him, so it’s usually not a factor.”
The two have had somewhat of a rivalry in 2013 since the opening round in Daytona. Hamlin took to Twitter after the Daytona 500, sending the following to Logano’s team-mate, Brad Keselowski. “sorry I couldn’t get close to you cuz your genius teammate was too busy messing up the inside lane 1 move at a time.”
“That’s a freaking genius behind the wheel of the 11 car” said Logano after the Bristol race, referencing Hamlin’s Daytona tweet. “Probably the worst teammate I ever had, so I learned that now. He decided to run in the back of me. I have a scorecard and I’m not putting up with that. What goes around comes around. I see the way he races now that he’s not my teammate, and I will race him the same way he races me.”
Following the race Logano also took to Twitter. “Hey @dennyhamlin great job protecting that genius brain of yours by keeping your helmet on.”
Hamlin’s race ended poorly, finishing a lowly 23rd after a tyre blow-out saw him limp home over the last five laps, only making it round the circuit by bouncing his car off the outside wall.
“I meant to run in to him. I didn’t mean to spin him out, but his day was fine,” said Hamlin. “He still had a bad day anyway for whatever reason. You know, we finished bad and he finished bad. It’s even.”
Upon hearing the response from Hamlin, Logano refused to believe it, but stated that he wasn’t looking for a fight with his former team-mate.
“Oh, OK, sure,” said Logano. “If he didn’t mean to wreck me, he would have said he was sorry but he didn’t say that. I don’t want to fight people, I just want to talk. It just got a little worked up over there. It’s all right. They’re trying to protect their driver.”
