Here’s what Kyle Petty and Denny Hamlin had to say after that little “fracas” at Dover, courtesy of Dodge Motorsports and Clear!Blue (Petty), and GM (Hamlin).
KYLE PETTY (No. 45 Wells Fargo Dodge Avenger)
ON THE ACCIDENT “We were a little bit loose. I guess it’s my fault. I watched the Busch race yesterday and I knew Denny (Hamlin) was sick, I just didn’t know he was hallucinating and needed three lanes to get up off the corner because he ran all over us. I guess he is in a race by himself.”ON HIS WORDS WITH HAMLIN “I just told him ‘he is in the Chase and I’m not’. That’s how simple it is. It’s a shame that a guy with that much talent has to drive like that. We’ve seen it a lot. We’ve seen it all year long. Even his teammate Tony Stewart talked about it. I think it pretty much speaks for itself.”
DENNY HAMLIN (No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet Impala SS)
WHAT DID YOU SAY TO KYLE PETTY AND WHAT DID HE SAY TO YOU AT YOUR CAR WINDOW? “He just said it wasn’t racing. And absolutely it wasn’t racing. I wasn’t racing him. There was no reason. Let’s look back at my career. I’ve never wrecked anyone my entire career has anybody spun off my front bumper. It’s not like I’m a guy who runs into everybody. You’ve just got to use your brain. You’ve got to calm down. This is not over for us. A lot of guys had trouble today and we’re going to bounce back from this. This is just one step of this 10-week chase.”WERE YOU SURPRISED AT PETTY’S REACTION? “Yeah, I think a lot of it was his frustration over this whole top 35 thing, but we’re racing for bigger and better things. Hopefully, one day, if they get it turned around, I can exchange the favor. But right now, we’re the guys racing for the championship, so you know, heed a little bit.”
WHAT SET YOU OFF TO HAVE YOU JUMP OUT OF YOUR CAR LIKE THAT WHEN YOU WERE WAITING FOR THE CREW TO FIX THE CAR? “Don’t smack me on the helmet. You smack me on the helmet and I’m going to punch you in the face, bottom line. So I’d like for him (Kyle Petty) to call me sometime this week, before next week.”
IS THERE AN UNWRITTEN RULE ABOUT TAKING YOUR WINDOW NET DOWN OR COMING TO YOUR CAR? “You don’t come to my car; you don’t come to my pit. You meet me somewhere else and we’ll settle it. I have the utmost respect for Kyle, but don’t lay your hands on my head.”
WHY DID HE DO THAT? DID YOU SAY SOMETHING BACK TO HIM? “I did not say one word to him. I asked him to come over and talk to me. He chose to slap my helmet. I have a short fuse. Don’t do that. I didn’t say one word to him (Petty) in the garage. All I just said wad ‘Come here and let me talk to you about it’. He chose to slap my helmet, you know, in hindsight, I should have grabbed his throat.”
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Denny has a lot of talent but I’m not one of his biggest fans.
He’s had lots of trouble this year in blocking and some overly aggressive driving. He also doesn’t seem to have much of a personality.
That wreck looked like he simply forgot that Kyle was there, as he drove right through him. I have seen wrecks similar to that but usually the car in front breaks a timing chain or otherwise loses power but it was a hard hit.
I don’t condone what Kyle did but was funny as heck and I can understand how he felt a car destroyed for no reason. It wasn’t much worse than Harvick and Montoya at the Glen. Petty could have asked Denny if his hairpiece fell down and covered his eyes like Newman said about Marlin, a few years back.
What a little twerp. There really should be a longer indoctrination period for new guys in this sport. They have no respect and they get away with murder. How long has this punk been around, 1+ seasons?
don’t blame kyle should have waited until he took his helmet off then slap him
he is going for bigger and better things PLEASE—–like kyle isn’t going for owner points show some respect u litle “twerp” (gordy term which i happen to find very appropriate)he should feel honored to be in chase and never lose sight of earning respect!
Denny is an aggressive driver,and he doesn’t seem to care about the ones out there as long as he is ok. Sometimes he isn’t affected, other times he puts himself out too! Goofy!
Kyle is most always a gentleman, so I still have to wonder what the ‘kid twerp’ actually said to Kyle!!!
Denny should have punched him in the face! Kyle never gave Denny a chance to accept responsibility or apologize. He just flew off the handle. JGR should have a talk with the crew over letting Kyle even get that close to Denny’s window in the first place. The Jackman should have put him on his butt! Kyle is just feeling the pressure of the top 35 and he’s having a hard time dealing with the twilight of his career. Denny goofed, but Kyle messed up bigger by going to the pit and slapping his helmet. Nascar should penalize Kyle for that, but they won’t. I respect Denny more for how he got into his cup ride. He earned it. It wasn’t given to him like a ‘never was’ in a pony tail.
Denny should be glad it wasn’t Jimmy Spencer (jimmy still the man) looking in his window!!