Denny Hamlin may have gained a few fans Monday, but he no doubt garnered some enemies on the track as well.
Chief among them was David Reutimann who saw his hopes to make this years Chase for the Sprint Cup take a serious hit caused by a tangle with Hamlin. .jpg)
During Hamlin’s relentless pursuit of the win in Monday’s rescheduled Pennsylvania 500, he was fighting his way back through traffic when on lap 174 he got behind Reutimann pushing his Toyota hard enough to spin Reutimann around and into his Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Marcos Ambrose.
“I got to him coming off turn one. I drove into turn two, got to him, nudged him actually in the middle of the corner. I let go of him,” Hamlin said. He pulled away about a car length, but then he slammed on the brakes obviously to let me know he was upset.”
I plowed him off of two really hard. I said, ‘Man, all right, I understand, I get it.’ In turn three, I got to him again. He got really loose off four. When I got to him and pushed him, I was hoping he was just going to come off the corner, straighten up, I was going to push him down the straightaway. Instead, kept my throttle on him, and when I did I spun him into his teammate.
It was a lot of emotion. I got guys in my mirror that I know I got to race for the win. I’m racing for a win on a particular weekend where it means more than any other weekend. I think emotion was probably part of it. But I got to make it up to those guys somehow, cut them some breaks on the track or something.”
Hamlin went on to win, Reutimann finished 29th while Ambrose finished 34th.
Perhaps the worst news for Reutimann though is the point’s loss. He came into the day in 13th place with a legitimate shot to make the top 12 and earn a spot in the Chase for the Championship. He lost three spots and is now 16th.
“Not sure what happened there,” Ambrose said. “We were running in the top-10 and all of a sudden David (Reutimann) got turned by the 11 (Denny Hamlin) car and I had nowhere to go. That pretty much ended our day.”
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Comments
Denny still feels bad about it, he's made that very clear. It's between the drivers. I believe you may have overreacted. He's still got less on-track enemies than Jimmie Johnson.
After watching the video, I think Denny should have been penalized. Other than R. Gordon's stated desire to wreck Stremme, I don't see much difference in the way each was driving. He ran over Reutimann and NASCAR ought to be ashamed for letting him get by with it. Hamlin ought to have to give up the points he earned on Monday to Reutimann. That wasn't "rubbing is racing." That was wrecking a competitor "because I've got to win one for grandma." Well, I hope that grandma is ashamed of you!
Denny should be penalized for rough driving. NASCAR is not consistant in how the treat the drivers. They all say "I feel bad" after the fact! Emotions or not Denny flat out wrecked Reutimann, caused more damage than the Gordon-Stremme deal. I agree with Stephen - Denny's Grandma should be ashamed! Denny should be ashamed, can you image his whining & crying if it was the other way around.
Denny is from my home town and I have been a major fan, but wrong is wrong and nascar should have imposed a rough driving penalty plain and simple but that not going to happen to any of the big 4 drivers.
NASCAR turns there head AGAIN, For another big team. The 11 did not deserve to win taking out two cars without even trying to pass
1 more thing this is not the first time he has knockout more than one car in a race.. he did it at sonoma 3 cars taken out
Hat's off to Jimmy Spencer who, minutes before interviewing Denny, said in the post race TV show, that he thought Nascar should look into that incident, of course thy won't. How about the black flag for Tony Raines, 16 laps into the race for not having a pit crew, wake up Hilton
I agree that Denny should have been penalized. You don't bump draft the car in front of you in a turn. Karma is in his future. Just look at his teammate.
i was waiting for nascar to penalize hamlin for that dirty driving... but they didnt
That wasn't Raines. that was Wallace.
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