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The past weekend has been one with a rollercoaster of emotions for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin. After crossing the checkered flag in P1 at the M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 at the Pocono Raceway, the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry TRD driver was disqualified for failing to pass the post-race inspection, along with teammate Kyle Busch in P2.
This, however, did not dampen his celebrations at the track when he was still considered the winner of the 400-mile-long race. The talking point for Hamlin during the race came on one of the late restarts when the 41-year-old led the field alongside the #1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Ross Chastain.
For the uninitiated, Chastain and Hamlin have had several run-ins over the course of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, with the former being the aggressor most of the time. As the duo resumed on 'The Tricky Triangle,' Hamlin made full use of his track position on Chastain, running him out of space. This saw the Trackhouse Racing driver crash and retire from the race.
Denny Hamlin went onto elaborate on the incident post-race and said:
“I mean, what did you want me to do? What did you expect me to do? We got position on him, and he just ran out of race track. We’re just going to keep racing hard until we get the respect back from these guys. It’s not just that, we’ve been wrecked four times. Twice while leading in the last 10 months and I’m at the end of it.”
Watch the interview below:
Denny Hamlin reacts to equalling win tally with former teammate Tony Stewart
When asked whether Hamlin believed he could equal his former teammate Tony Stewart's all-time win tally, the Tampa, Florida native appreciated his team's efforts, and said:
“I’ve been blessed to be with a great race team my entire career and that’s carried me a long way. But today was definitely a team thing. This guy right here, Chris Gabehart (crew chief), just made some great strategy calls to make up the positions that I lost when I spun out. Wow, just a great team effort.”
NASCAR goes live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway next weekend for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
