Hamlin defends last-lap dive on Wallace at Kansas: ‘On Sunday, I am the driver’

In the latest episode of his "Actions Detrimental" podcast on Monday, Denny Hamlin said he holds no regrets for chasing the victory in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Kansas Speedway despite last-lap contact with his employee, Bubba Wallace. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver also serves as the team co-owner of 23XI Racing, for which Wallace drives the No. 23 Toyota. Hamlin charged into Turn 3 on the final lap of the Hollywood Casino 400 alongside Wallace, and both slid up the track, leaving Wallace in the wall and Hamlin slow enough to allow Chase Elliott to dart past both and score the win in NASCAR Overtime. MORE: Race results | Details of last-lap dash Hamlin admits he would do things differently had he known how tight his car was to Wallace's, but he did not anticipate saying 'sorry' soon, either. "If (listeners are) wanting an apology, they can turn it off now," Hamlin said on his weekly Dirty Mo Media show, "because I'm racing for the win and I definitely won't apologize for racing for the win." Hamlin reiterated his commitment as driver of the JGR No. 11 when he is behind the wheel, meaning his goal is to get that car into Victory Lane no matter who stands in its way. "On Sunday, I am the driver. The person in the 11 car is the driver," Hamlin said. "That's where the disconnect, I think, comes from, is that people expect me to be a different person. They expect me to be the guy with the 23XI shirt on when I'm in the 11 car, and that's just not possible. It's not possible. "My responsibilities as team owner come Monday through Saturday. Like, it is not up to me to get 23XI into the Round of 8, if that makes any sense. That's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to get the 11 into the Round of 8. I'm the driver on Sunday of that 11. Joe (Gibbs) pays me a lot of money to make sure that that car wins a championship, or has a shot to. And I mean, could you imagine the outrage if I had just backed off and let him have it? Holy [expletive]. People would lose their minds. But instead, I think Bubba said it very accurately -- we were going for the win. Both guys were going for the win." Hamlin, who made his Cup Series debut at Kansas in 2005, currently holds 59 career wins in NASCAR's premier series and sits 11th behind Kevin Harvick. Wallace is eyeing a spot in the Round of 8 for the first time in his blossoming career and would have been guaranteed that spot by winning Sunday's race. But chasing a milestone win after signing a two-year contract extension over the summer, the 44-year-old Hamlin is not willing to back down when staring a potential victory in the eyes. "My mentality into the last corner was, I hope I win," Hamlin said. "I've got 70 races left in my career. Three opportunities left to win a championship. I can win a championship as an owner for decades. The window is closing. Sixty is right in front of me at the track I got my very first start. Like, I want to be sympathetic and I am sympathetic and I hate it that the 23 is below the cut, but 23XI ran like dog-[expletive] at [expletive] New Hampshire and that's why they're below the cut. And I hate that for the drivers because unfortunately they had to drive that." Hamlin explained his goal entering Turn 3 was to side-draft Wallace and draw Wallace back, which ideally would have allowed Hamlin to drive to the bottom and clear Wallace entering the corner. Instead, Hamlin explained, Wallace side-drafted back and added an estimated 80% increase of rear downforce and Hamlin's car couldn't turn as well as he anticipated, sending both cars up the track. "I think there's only a couple ways to win it," Hamlin said. "I run lower on corner entry, even though my angle is horrible, but I at least hit the bottom and create a gap between me and him; or I need to let off sooner, count on him missing the corner and then trying to get it back on the exit. That's the only thing I feel like, if I could do it again, I'd like to try that. I'm not saying it would have been successful, but that'd be something that I will psychoanalyze of, here's what I think I could have done better if I had known all these factors." As Hamlin alluded, Wallace now enters Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval 10th in the standings, 26 points beneath the cutline to advance into the Round of 8. A win for Wallace at Kansas would have locked his spot into the next round instead. Asked if their Sunday contact would make things awkward walking into 23xI Racing Monday, Hamlin understood if that answer was yes, especially after Hamlin's second collision with a team car in as many weeks. "I think that's where feelings can get hurt is when you have expectations and those expectations aren't met," Hamlin said. "It's why I lost my temper last weekend is that I had an expectation. I thought we knew that if you're in the playoffs versus out, the rules are different. And so the actions didn't meet my expectations. And so then I got hot. And so I think sure. If you think that I owe you this or that, your feelings are probably hurt today. But I can tell you, anybody that had the run that I had off of Turn 2 (and) got to the inside of the 23, any car that was on the race track was going to do that exact same thing." Wallace, who qualified for the playoffs by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, has had a career year in some measures. The Brickyard marked his first crown-jewel victory and he's led a career-high 368 laps in 2025, all with rookie crew chief Charles Denike calling the shots. Hamlin has taken notice of just how dramatic the No. 23 team's rise from past years has been. "Bubba's turnaround over the last few years has just been -- I can't believe it, truthfully," Hamlin said. "The maturity he has shown -- he's been the lead car at 23XI really the entire year. I think the 45 (Tyler Reddick) might have him on average finish because he doesn't have as many DNFs, but the 23 has been the fastest freakin' car we've got, and that's something that just, I can't believe it. "Whether it's Charles Denike and his setups or Bubba's mentality, something changed over there that has made Bubba someone you're going to have to contend with every single week. And you're gonna have to contend with him this weekend, by the way. If you haven't seen his road-course skills, they've dramatically improved. I couldn't be more proud of that 23 team and what they're doing week in, week out." Hamlin enters the Round of 12 finale fourth in the playoff standings, 48 points above the provisional cutline heading to the Charlotte Roval on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).