Denny Hamlin was furious with Alex Bowman for the incident at Martinsville Speedway and couldn’t hide his emotions on and off the track.
In the last playoffs race of the Round of 8, Hamlin was in the lead with just 10 laps to go to secure his place in the championship race. Bowman, already eliminated from the playoffs, was chasing Hamlin and got in the inside of the No.11 car. However, his No.48 Chevrolet went loose and the two cars came in contact with each other.
Denny Hamlin SPINS!
Alex Bowman gets into him and a restart is coming! #NASCARPlayoffs x @peacockTV x @NBC pic.twitter.com/6EM9BLE8p2
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 31, 2021
Bowman took the lead after the incident and went on to win the race, As for Hamlin, he lost several positions but fortunately still qualified for the final race of the 2021 season.
After the race, Hamlin called Bowman an “absolute hack” and someone who “can’t drive”.
“He’s just a hack. He’s just an absolute hack. He gets his ass kicked by his teammates every week and just, he’s [expletive] terrible. He’s just terrible, and he sees one opportunity and he takes it. But obviously, he’s got the fastest car every week, and he runs 10th. So he didn’t want to race us there. We had a good, clean race. I moved up as high as I could on the race track to give him all the room I could, and he still can’t drive.”
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Hamlin further elaborated his frustration in a Twitter post.
I don’t expect you to understand my emotions. You don’t see the time I spend working on my craft. You don’t see the work these teams put in. You haven’t been taken out twice in the last 10 weeks. One costing us RegSeason championship. The other nearly ending our season.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) November 1, 2021
Things could have been much worse if Hamlin lost his place in the Championship 4 race. But for now, he has it despite the misfortune and has a good chance to win his first Cup Series title.