Hamlin vents frustration over teammate Stewart (cont'd)

"I think at the time neither Joe nor J.D. had really seen a pretty good replay. I don't think they had realized," Hamlin said. "We've talked since then and I think they realize exactly what happened. Millions and millions of people watching with their opinions know what happened. You know, let them judge.

"I don't need to sit there and blame Tony. There is no need in that."

Hamlin admitted that much of what happened was just "Tony being Tony," but also that he is frustrated by that reality.

"I think every five, six months it seems like he kind of goes through a very angry stage," Hamlin said. "Evidently I set something off last weekend. But Tony is going to be Tony. He's always like that.

"I'm not saying it's OK. But it's just him."

He said that Stewart has been mostly a faithful and helpful teammate. But he admitted that what happened in Daytona has shaken him.

"You learn with Tony you've just got to let him speak, whether he's got an opinion of NASCAR, or tires, or whatever it is. Just let him speak, and you can agree or disagree later. ... I knew was going to be frustrated about being out of the race, but I thought it was going to be more of a frustration with himself and not with me. But I think he was just, at the time, looking for somebody to blame on the deal," Hamlin said.

"I've talked about it [with Joe and J.D.]. The only thing we talked about -- me, J.D. and Joe -- is the way I handle things. I felt like I handled them the easiest way I possibly could, to avoid controversy. I chose not to throw Tony under the bus -- and he chose a different road than what I did."

After 18 races, Hamlin currently sits second in the 2007 driver point standings and has won one race. Stewart sits seventh in the standings and hasn't won yet this season -- the longest he's gone into a season without a victory since his rookie year in 1999.

Yet Hamlin insisted that Stewart remains the top dog in the Gibbs racing organization.

"I don't feel like I'm ahead of him. He's still the leader of Joe Gibbs Racing, without a doubt," Hamlin said. "He's a guy, who really, when I need help, I'll still go to regardless.

"But there's a point where being a leader doesn't always make you right."

To further illustrate his point, he talked more about both the wreck at Daytona and Stewart's accusations that followed it regarding both the accident and the supposed near-accident that Stewart said Hamlin caused during practice there.

"We are in the business of racing -- not pulling over and passing. Especially at Daytona," Hamlin said. "I think he mentioned that I should have pulled over and let guys go. So how many do I let go? Do I let three or four go, or what?

"I just think it was a misjudgment call. ... It was a situation where he was tempered up, and I wasn't. And that's where you got the two opinions varying."

As for the accusation that he almost wrecked his teammate in practice, Hamlin smiled and replied: "The only thing I can think of is we were in the draft and at one point coming to the start-finish, he got right to my bumper. I pulled down to get a draft off him, and he went lower to try to pass me.

"He talked about the whole teammate thing, and learning what a teammate is. I figured in that situation, it would be safe to pull in front of him. Evidently not, and he took it as I was blocking him. Either way, it was a situation where two different drivers were going after two different things.

"I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed -- even though we can sit here and say he totally threw me under the bus in front of millions of people on TV. ... Up until last week, he's been a great teammate to me, a great leader. He's taught me a lot of things. But, you know, I always knew you got to take things with Tony with a grain of salt. You might want to listen to him, but you don't always want to do the same things he does."

That may have included how a feisty Stewart conducted himself in front of the media Friday.

Told that Hamlin had talked extensively about their relationship and the Daytona incident earlier in the day, Stewart said only: "I know that he has. It doesn't matter what he's done. I choose to [not talk more about it] because it's what I want to do. I don't want to keep dragging it out. The more we keep talking to you guys about it, the longer you guys drag it out and it makes our lives miserable.

"If I had just kept my mouth shut last week like I should have done, I wouldn't have to even be worrying dealing with you guys about it this week."

At least he appeared to get that last part right. Told also that Hamlin said they would speak and attempt to mend fences Friday, Stewart again refused to offer any information on that front.

"Don't worry about that," Stewart snapped.