Hamlin: 'There's a lot of animosity' toward Keselowski

How his peers view him in the garage is the bigger issue for Keselowski, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said Tuesday during a national teleconference.

"I can't speak for many other guys, but I mean … there's a lot of animosity. And that's all you can really say.

"You don't have to run into people to be successful. And when I hear Brad say 'this is the only way a person like me can make it,' what do you mean 'like you?' I had to get here just on hard work, too. I didn't have money behind me or anything else. What's the difference?

"I hate that statement. (He) made it (this far) because people see potential in the way he drives and that he is fast and he does a great job and has already won a championship in a very short career. I believe that is a bad statement that he throws out there every time. But it's his prerogative and he can do what he wants. He has a job and has an owner that loves him and he's driving for a very fast crew chief.

"He's got a lot of really good things working for him. In my opinion, and I want to stress my opinion … he just has got to work on the respect factor from his peers."

Keselowski and Hamlin are two of eight drivers vying for one of four spots in this year's Championship Round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup to be contested Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET, ESPN). Gordon, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick also remain in contention.

Sunday's Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (ESPN, 3 p.m. ET) is the final race of the Eliminator Round and will determine the four finalists.

If Gordon, a four-time champion, attempts to make his life on the track any more difficult in the coming weeks, Keselowski said last week that it wouldn't be a surprise. Nor would he be intimidated.

"Will those guys race me hard or harder than others?" Keselowski said following last week's race. "Absolutely, I'm certain they will. But that's just part of it; I can't fault them for that.

"I just feel like I have to go for the gap if it's there and I have to race the way I race or I won't even be in NASCAR. I'd rather have enemies in NASCAR than have friends and be sitting at home."

Hamlin said he'd made more than his share of mistakes as well, but that he had learned from them and "I feel like I've gotten the respect of my competitors because of that."

It can make a huge difference late in a race when a driver can choose to either help another or make life hard, something he said he "learned the hard way."

"These guys can make your job really hard if they really want to," said Hamlin.

Former NASCAR champion and 2013 Hall of Fame inductee Rusty Wallace said Gordon "got the raw end (of the deal) because his left rear got bumped and he had a flat tire.

"But I don't think there is a driver in the world that would not have tried to put their car in that hole and go for it," Wallace said.

A NASCAR analyst for ESPN, Wallace scored 37 of his 55 career wins while driving the No. 2 entry for the Penske organization. He said his relationship with the group has no bearing on how he viewed Sunday's incident or what he thinks of Keselowski.

The driver's aggressive nature on the track, he said, reminds him of seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.

"He wants to win, he's going for it," Wallace said. "There are a lot of … people backing up Brad's decision, that when Jeff Gordon took the high line going into Turn 1 on the restart and that hole opened up, I'm telling you what, as a competitor, with just a handful of laps to go, when you saw that hole and Brad went for it, he went for it."

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