Rusty Wallace couldn't believe Denny Hamlin would just turn into Brad Keselowski purposefully under caution during the Nationwide Series CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 Saturday evening. Believe it. Hamlin admitted as much in his post-race interviews from Lowe's Motor Speedway and implied that his actions were in response to the #88's intentionally aggressive "love tap" under caution. Keselowski didn't full disclosure any intentional aggression.
"This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man."
~ The Dude, The BIg Lebowski
Quoting Hamlin on this...
"I retaliated ... I didn't retaliate based on the way we raced earlier in the race."
Hamlin wasn't happy about what transpired during the race, though, either.
"If a guy has got everything but two inches on me, let him go because he's got there for a reason and I got there many times on him earlier in the race. Then he would slide up in the middle and then he would get a good run off the corner, but besides that it was almost at the end of the race and I had a great run on the top on him. I was up there next to his door and he slid up all the way from the bottom, all the way to the top and cut my nose off.
"That pisses drivers off and I learned as a rookie that if you make a guy that's been doing this a little bit longer and you make their job hard then they're going to make yours 10 times harder. Brad has enough talent to be in this Cup series, no doubt he'll be there in a few years, but I don't know if it's just these short races that he's been in -- you just shouldn't race like that. You can, but it will hurt you in the future."
Quoting Keselowski on this...
"Well, ya know, we raced him hard and that's what racing is. That's why fans come watch it and he doesn't like it when guys race him hard. Well, that's the sport and that's what I do. I raced him hard and he didn't think that was cool so he decided to take my left front fender off.
"I race one day a week. I don't race twice a week. I have one day a week to prove myself. I have 200 laps. I don't have 400, I have 200. I have to take every opportunity to prove myself, to prove myself not only to Junior Motorsports, but to the Navy and my competitors and fans and I have to make the most of every lap."
MORE VIDEO: Tense Post-Race Press Conference
