Kevin Harvick pushes back on Denny Hamlin post-race comments for Ross Chastain, Joey Logano playoff situation: 'He's way too smart'

Denny Hamlin claimed he had no idea about the points battle between Joey Logano and Ross Chastain on the final lap of this past Sunday’s Round of 16 finale at the Charlotte ROVAL. In reality, Chastain had a one-point advantage over Logano for the last transfer spot into the Round of 8.

Hamlin was the first driver behind Chastain, and he eventually made the pass after Chastain nearly failed to make a corner. Kevin Harvick isn’t buying Hamlin’s story that he wasn’t aware of the points situation, even if his team never told him.

“He didn’t have to because he already knew,” Harvick said on Tuesday’s Happy Hour podcast. “… He was not gonna pass him [Chastain]. If Ross makes that corner, I mean that whole thing gets stacked up and I think it’s two things: I don’t think Denny wanted to pass him because I think he knew it was going to turn into a sh*t storm when he tried to pass him, getting run into, run over the curb, I don’t think that he wanted the controversy, and I don’t think he wanted to race Joey Logano either. There’s no way — both of those things, it was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t moment because he didn’t want to pass him for the Logano piece of it, but he didn’t want to pass him because he knew it would turn into a war.

“Denny didn’t need anyone on the radio to tell him what was happening. He knew exactly what was best for him and he referred to it in his interview. Knew exactly what was best for him in the Round of 8 and he did not want to have to race Joey Logano. He also didn’t want a war with Ross Chastain because it was gonna be a war all the way to the end. … Denny is way too smart. He knew exactly what was happening. That’s why there was no radio chatter. It didn’t matter where he was racing, he knew what the situation was with the 1.”

Denny Hamlin knocked Ross Chastain out of postseason

Logano got the final transfer spot over Chastain, who tried to pass Hamlin on the final corner but ended up taking both of them out. Most would argue that given the choice, Hamlin would rather race against Chastain than Logano going forward in the playoffs. Logano is a three-time Cup champion and winner of two of the last three championships. Hamlin said it wouldn’t have been as cut and dry.

“You can argue which one you would want to race,” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “I think that I still go out there and try to pass the 1 because I think the 1 has a better shot of getting to Phoenix. I think the 22 has the better shot of winning Phoenix. So, I can’t win Phoenix unless I get there first. It’s not a given that I want to race Ross over Joey. Ross would have a better shot of keeping me of getting to Phoenix than Joey would, in my opinion, on pace. I look at the tracks, I say yes, Joey has been strong on superspeedways. Look at the numbers, he’s finished inside the top 20 one time in the Next Gen era. It’s not a given. They both have the same amount of playoff points.

“So, had I known, I probably would have thought about it, and I don’t know what I would have done. But I certainly would have thought about it, and all those things would have crossed my mind. They crossed my mind Saturday night. Given the situation, who do I want to advance? And I thought the same thing, ‘Well, the devil you know or the devil you don’t. One could make my path to Phoenix harder, one could make the Phoenix race harder.’ That’s the balance you just don’t know. But I know for sure that had I known and had I made the decision don’t pass the 1, do you know how bad I would kick myself in the ass if the 1 kept me out of the final four? My mental would be gone.”