Joe Gibbs said he would let his drivers handle a dispute that occurred at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend. Now, Denny Hamlin has expressed a desire to see team leadership resolve the situation.
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As he explained on this week's episode of the "Actions Detrimental" podcast, the two drivers will not have the same outlook after last weekend's playoff race.
Gibbs raced Hamlin and Christopher Bell aggressively for 11th place in stage 2. Hamlin spun Gibbs into the wall, move that he said he did not intend to make. The veteran noted that he wanted to move Gibbs out of the lane after some aggressive aero blocking.
"The challenge is that I think me and Ty are going to have different opinions," Hamlin said. "Therefore, you need leadership to step in and say, 'Well, this is how we want it done.' And then we will play by those rules.
"Whatever those rules are, I will play by those rules. But I have been told in the past, if you're not in (the playoffs), you do everything you can to help your teammates that are in."
Hamlin added that Gibbs would want one of the JGR drivers to win the championship this season because "his name's on the building."
TENSIONS. ARE. HIGH. 👀
Denny Hamlin voices some frustration while battling with teammate Ty Gibbs. #NASCARPlayoffs
📺: @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/epxts7yuDJ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 21, 2025
With three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in the playoffs, the team would benefit from laying out clear expectations. Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and Bell are all above the cutline heading to Kansas Speedway this weekend, but none of their spots remain guaranteed.
Hamlin noted that these playoff drivers will race each other more aggressively due to what is at stake, but this is a far cry from them just racing each other in a cutthroat manner.
"Like I expect myself and the 19 (Chase Briscoe) and the 20 (Christopher Bell) to race really, really hard because we're all battling each other to get above this cutline or maintain our status above the cutline," Hamlin said.
"If I get eliminated or the 19 gets eliminated or the 20 gets eliminated, and then we've established this 'no rules — you guys just do whatever you wanna do,' none of us are going to win."
He compared the situation to racing Ross Chastain — another playoff driver — who let him by early in last weekend's race. Chastain needs playoff points as much as Hamlin does, but the Trackhouse Racing driver still let him go by.
"If there's anyone that probably — he's on the cutline," he said about Chastain. "But even in the first stage, I pressured him and pressured him, and more than likely, what he thought was 'I'm not going to hold him up for this entire 60-lap run.
"'I might as well just get back in line, try to keep it from someone else joining this party and passing me along with you.'"
Hamlin recorded the podcast before the competition meeting with Joe Gibbs Racing drivers and leadership, so no one knows how or if this discussion took place. They will not know until this weekend's media sessions at Kansas Speedway.
