Today on his podcast, Hamlin disagreed with Blaney’s comments calling his move a “hack move.”
“That’s two people racing, by the way, for the final four of a championship battle. It’s just interesting to me, given who is involved, people are like, ‘Why are you racing Blaney so hard?’ What are you talking about? I’m trying to make it into the Final Four. Like, I don’t quite get it.”
Hamlin went on to break down exactly what happened, explaining his thought process and the strategy of both the No. 11 and No. 12 cars in the moment.
Hamlin also admitted he considered conceding to Blaney in the moment to limit Christopher Bell.
“What we’re trying to do is get a half car length ahead so we can say ‘Okay, it’s my spot, concede, get in line and let’s go.’ That’s what I tried to do in 1 and 2 but the lap after that, I go in there, I’m going to go deep again but he’s down on my door and I’m hitting the gas to establish that it’s my position. But as I gas up, he gasses up. So he’s saying, ‘No, you’re not. I’m going to fight you for this spot.’ So I let off and leave him plenty of room and we raced side-by-side again down the backstretch.”