“I’m sorry, I’m an idiot”: Martin Truex Jr on clearing the air with Denny Hamlin after latter’s controversial win at Richmond 

The dominance of Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing was the only thing that was talked about at Richmond on the 31st of March, until his teammate Denny Hamlin's dramatic win in the overtime of the Toyota Owners 400.

The infuriated No. 19 driver of JGR Truex's hope to secure his 35th career victory was lost when the #11 driver Hamlin took advantage of a late-race caution. Truex who led the race for 228 of the 407 laps was seen taking revenge on his JGR teammate post-race by bumping the #11 Toyota.

Until recently in an episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, Truex shared how he had a turnaround regarding the fallout between him and Hamlin.

Truex said,

“I don’t know exactly what I said, like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m an idiot’,” (0:05)

Later on, added about the respect he had for his fellow teammates, both being the veterans of NASCAR.

"I mean we’ve been around each other long enough, we’ve raced each other for so many wins, so many different things…It’s the respect that we love, right? No matter what happens on the race track, I get it, whether to race, whether to win, whether it’s the best for our team at that moment. And it comes down to respect after the race", said Truex Jr. (0:08)

The #19 driver then continued talking about how this sport has tendencies where the driver reacts in a certain way and explained how his luck hasn't favored him in Richmond Speedway. Martin Truex Jr said:

"One of the toughest things about this sport is the disappointments, learning how to deal with those, ’cause there are so many. I can think of five or six different times that same exact scenario happened at Richmond, right? And it’s like, how do you keep your emotions in check, that’s the hardest part of the sport.” (0:34)

The 23XI co-owner Hamlin understood Martin Truex Jr's frustration and jumped in by saying:

“And I knew how upset he was, because I knew the history, that this has happened to him five times. I always empathized…I said it after the races, the guy has six times dominated this race, and not won it for various reasons. I understand why he is going off the rails. I get it.” said Hamlin. (1:25)

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Joe Gibbs on Martin Truex Jr's aggression after Richmond win

In a post-race interview, Joe Gibbs, owner of JGR sided with his Martin Truex Jr on the latter's celebration after his narrow defeat in Richmond.

Gibbs said both the #19 and #11 Toyota drivers were passionate about the win, hence the frustration.

Further in the interview, he added,

"You see these guys when it gets down towards the end of these races, they're going for it because they are really hard to win. They want it for their sponsor. They want it for themselves, their career. And so you really feel for them when they go through a night, you know, like Martin went through this night, you just feel for them,” Gibbs said. (1:27)

Martin Truex Jr. still hasn't won any race in the Cup Series. Although he sits comfortably in the second place at the Cup Series standings with 344 points. 15 points short of the table leader, Kyle Larson.