Denny Hamlin addresses JGR philosophy on how teammates should race: 'Don't think we're on the same page'

Winning a NASCAR Cup Series championship is hard. Denny Hamlin knows that all too well as his two-decade career has been a story of good, but not good — or lucky enough — to win a championship.

This season, at 44 years old, Hamlin is once again one of the championship favorites. So, when Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs — a non-playoff driver — held him up during Sunday’s Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Hamlin was dumbfounded. And while battling for 11th on Lap 110, the situation escalated quickly. Hamlin, running the inside lane going into Turn 1, dumped Gibbs and sent him crashing into the outside wall.

This was a major moment in Sunday’s race, one that will create plenty of conversation this week at the JGR shop. Hamlin admitted that he doesn’t think the race team is on the same page.

“I don’t think we’re on the same page,” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “I have always went back to what is the last thing Joe [Gibbs] has said when it comes to non-playoff cars and playoff cars. He has had this conversation multiple times with everyone in the room, but I think it probably needs to be said again. What I’ve heard is that if you’re a non-playoff car, any break that you can cut your teammates, please do.”

Hamlin expected his teammate to cut him a break. He had just witnessed Gibbs giving another JGR playoff driver, Christopher Bell, a hard time on the racetrack, and Hamlin was next.

Denny Hamlin gives perspective on frustration with Ty Gibbs

“I probably got a little upset, a little hot under the collar because first of all, I was a witness to the 54 [Gibbs] and the 20 [Bell] thing. I was right behind it and I’m watching it just shaking my head,” Hamlin said. “There was a just a lot of tire smoke, both from the inside and the outside on that one, but it was just tough to watch. And then, I apparently when you go back and listen to Ty’s audio, he got really upset about the 20 car at that point, and I think whoever got to him next, he was gonna be difficult to. Unfortunately, I was the next guy in line to pass him and again, me and the 20 were fighting so hard to get around the 54 that we ended up fighting each other and then when we got singled out, we both ran him down again. I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m just gonna go on by, I’m clearly faster.’

“And it was just aero-block this corner, aero-block that corner and then when you get beside, it’s like, ‘OK, what else do I have to prove that we’re clearly faster? I’m definitely going to pass you, we got 60 laps till the end of this stage. What are we doing? You’re not gonna hold off me off for 60 laps. The 20 is right behind me, these are your teammates that need these points.’ I just didn’t understand where the mindset was there, and I still don’t. It’s possible Ty feels like he doesn’t owe us anything, and that’s just a different mindset. It’s OK to have but you would think that one day the roles would be reversed and certainly, he probably would be upset if we did not let him go and he was fighting to move on to the next round.”

There’s some interesting dynamics at play, as Ty Gibbs is the grandson of Joe Gibbs. Chris Gabehart, JGR’s competition director, has been orchestrating strategy calls for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 team over the last couple of months. Gabehart served as Hamlin’s crew chief from 2019-2024.

Hamlin was seen talking to Gabehart and Joe Gibbs on pit road after the race. Hamlin didn’t say much about the incident after the race, but he said Monday he felt he was wronged by Gibbs.

“I felt as though a little bit wronged in the sense of my teammate out of the playoffs should not be the hardest car on the track to pass,” Hamlin said. “For God’s sake, Ross Chastain let me by. He’s on the cutline.”