Denny Hamlin Played Rough at Talladega

There's a lot of drivers at Talladega that doing a whole lot more than shaking in their little space boots over this weekend's UAW-Ford 500. Limited sight lines, inexperienced drivers, and an always-there lack of patience are just a few of the reasons why those drivers -- most of them Chasers -- are straight up worried about Sunday.

Denny Hamlin didn't seem to be one of them Friday at Talladega. NASCAR parked the last-place Chaser with 15 minutes left in the first practice Friday after he reportedly was bump-drafting a little excessively.

It didn't affect Hamlin's team (or they didn't admit it) as the No. 11 car decided to not practice in happy hour, either.

Regardless, Hamlin had some questions for NASCAR over their ruling, until he answered them himself.

Hamlin felt the Joe Gibbs Racing team was singled out, as he was drafting well with Stewart and J.J. Yeley when he was caught. But he said many other cars also were bumping.

"They said Gibbs cars in specific, they had an eye out on," Hamlin said. "I wonder what makes us different than anyone else, other than we were the first three cars in line. We were working well together, and when I say working well together, we were pushing each other well.

"But they said they didn't want any contact, and we broke that rule. So we're going sit have to sit out for a while."

Now Denny, was that so tough?

Chaser Jeff Gordon also decided to not to participate in the day's second session. Tony Stewart led both practices with the fastest speed of 194.959 mph in the draft.

Qualifying for Sunday's race starts at 1:00pm ET Saturday.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-06-2007 @ 2:26PM

l buckelew said...

Denny has been hanging around Tony too long, he is starting to act like him. He used to be a quiet little person and now he is a hot head like Tony. Gibbs keep him away from Tony or you are going to have a really BIG problem on your hands. Lokk at how he acted with Kyle Petty. Huh, what have we got started here???

10-06-2007 @ 6:44PM

Maveness said...

Thing is that Denny didn't know - NASCAR was on EVERYONE about the bump drafting. They were talking about it during qualifying that almost every driver got warned. NASCAR spent more time during practice running up and down and telling teams to back off than anything else.

Which means, if NASCAR says don't do it at all, it doesn't matter if it's your teammates or not.

10-06-2007 @ 7:04PM

Don Emerson said...

Yeah well, enforcing the rules at practice is one thing, but let's wait and see if they will do it during the race. Judging from the last two weeks, I doubt it. As for Hamlin, guess it's time for papa Joe to sit him down for a talk again. Gibbs has some talented drivers, but they sure act like spoiled brats at times. I wonder if his football team is the same way.

10-07-2007 @ 7:53AM

Sandie said...

Jo Gibbs is a "great football coach". I think Joe Gibbs will be a Hall of Fame coach. It is sad that his race team drivers have no class or respect for other drivers. I do not think that Gibbs drivers are singled out of the field. Gibbs drivers actions speak for themselves. As in football, there are a lot of people with just as much talent waiting to get a Cup seat. Quite frankly, I think Tony Stewart has got by with too much crap the past two races. It is going to be a rough race at Talladega this afternoon. I wonder what Toyota teams have done to have such good qualifying this week???

10-07-2007 @ 10:34AM

Showns said...

Kyle Petty jumped in Denny Hamlins face and Denny sat in his car and took it but the minute he got out everyone is down on Denny.If this had been Gordon or Johnson noone would have said a word.

10-08-2007 @ 6:29PM

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have much more class than Denny Hamlin. Both Johnson and Gordon have respect of their peers.

10-09-2007 @ 6:02PM

Katie said...

Denny Hamlin does have class, everytime he does something everyone jumps all over him. I find it alittle rediculous when he was penalized at Talladega for bump drafting when everyone else was doing it, and Nascar's excuse for making only him sit out and not everyone else was because he was doing it on tv. Give me a break, they keep making up stupid excuses to put him down. He has not created a bad reputation for himself, fans and tv created a bad reputation for him. All he is trying to do is get himself more known as a serious race car driver instead of a shy rookie kid who can easily get stepped on for being quite in a very big,competitive business. I will also add having Tony Stewart as a role model and teammate, doesnt help Denny at all. Watch, Denny will become the next best thing Nascar has seen.