Hamlin vents frustration over teammate Stewart

JOLIET, Ill. -- Denny Hamlin said he still doesn't understand it. Tony Stewart obviously still doesn't get it.

And if they've talked, Stewart claims they will be keeping that to themselves.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he and Stewart wrecked to ruin their nights in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday, Hamlin admitted on Friday that Stewart's post-race tirade directed toward him after the incident both baffled and frustrated him.

Despite the fact that video replays clearly show Stewart appearing to cause the accident by hitting Hamlin from behind, Stewart claimed it was the result of Hamlin driving a slower car and refusing to get out of his way. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates were running 1-2 at the time. (read more)

Stewart also claimed that Hamlin had attempted to wreck him one day earlier during practice for the Pepsi 400, and closed by openly questioning whether the younger Hamlin understood the meaning of being a teammate.

"Sure it disappointed me. It definitely did," Hamlin said. "Even if it had been a situation where I would have wrecked him from behind, he still shouldn't have thrown me as far under the bus as he did.

"But I was the guy in front."

Hamlin went on to say that he expected to talk with Stewart later Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, where both he and Stewart were preparing for this Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400. He admitted that he refused to return a phone message Stewart left him earlier in the week.

"I just frankly wasn't ready to talk to him," Hamlin said. "I didn't want to go on his radio show and talk to him or anything like that. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I wanted to do it face-to-face. I didn't want to go through a telephone wire to talk to him -- because I want to see his reaction. I want to know what he's thinking."

Yet it didn't appear that they had talked when Stewart was asked about it after qualifying Friday, several hours after Hamlin spoke out on the subject earlier in the morning. In fact, Stewart brusquely attempted to deflect all media inquiries into the matter.

"Guys, I'm not gonna talk about that this week," Stewart said. "That was last week. I'm onto this week. If you want to talk about something that's going on this week, great. If not, I don't have time to mess around with something that happened last week or two years ago or four years ago."

Asked if he would be comfortable racing with Hamlin this week and as a teammate in the future, Stewart replied: "Guys, I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not going to get into this game with you guys."

Yet Stewart did address the matter on his national radio show (watch video) earlier in the week, so he also was asked what the difference was between discussing it in that format and discussing it when the national media asked about it at a track.

"Because I choose to do it there. I don't choose to do it with this group of people," Stewart replied.

Hamlin, on the other hand, seemed to feel a need to speak openly about what he obviously felt was the betrayal of a teammate. He also said that team owners Joe Gibbs and J.D. Gibbs had encouraged he and Stewart to talk, and that he had no hard feelings about the Gibbs' not coming to his defense more strongly in the immediate aftermath of the incident. (Continued)