Stewart Blames Teammate Hamlin For Lap-15 Wreck That Took Both Out

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tony Stewart started the fire, and team owner Joe Gibbs spent part of Saturday night putting it out.
“All of a sudden, he just stops on the exit of turn four in front of 42 cars, and he can’t expect all of us to drive around him,” Stewart said. “He just wrecked two really good race cars. He tried to wreck us in practice on Friday and didn’t get it done. At least he finished it off today.
“He’s a young guy and wants to be successful, but I don’t know if he knows what the definition of team is right now.”
“He” is Denny Hamlin, Stewart’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing. On lap 15 of the Pepsi 400 Saturday at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Hamlin was battling a loose condition while leading off turn four. Whether Stewart, who was running second, got a massive run or Hamlin slowed, both cars wrecked and were eliminated from contention. Stewart finished 38th, Hamlin 43rd.
“Both our guys are very aggressive. They love to race,” Gibbs said. “They are good teammates, and they want to win every race. Sometimes guys get upset, which is understandable. Sometimes you are running up front, and sometimes it happens to two guys running on the same team.
“You hate it.”
Hamlin said he’d take the blame.
“If he wants to blame it on me,” Hamlin said, “I’ll be the bigger man and take responsibility for it. He’s been around this sport longer than I have and probably knows more than I do, so I’ll just take it for what it’s worth.”