Fighting for position, Gibbs in the #54 Toyota Camry found itself in a battle with Playoffs driver Hamlin in the #11 Camry.
Just behind them was Christopher Bell in the #20 Camry, another Joe Gibbs Racing driver in Playoffs contention.
Hamlin, annoyed that Gibbs wouldn’t let him pass, vented over the radio.
“Does Ty know we’re going for a championship? What the fuck,” said Hamlin.
Eventually, Hamlin’s frustrations wore thin, and he drove up the race track into Gibbs’ left rear and spun him.
Hamlin fired up on the radio again: “What the fuck is he doing?”
Gibbs returned to the race after repairs but eventually retired his car. The 22-year-old offered short answers when questioned about the incident.
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m excited to go race next week and looking forward to it,” said Gibbs.
“We’ll have a good race next week and looking forward to it.”
Hamlin was seen speaking with ‘Coach’ Joe Gibbs post-race and other members of the Toyota team.
There was a frosty mood in the pit lane, and much like Gibbs, Hamlin offered short responses to questioning about the incident.
“It’s super unfortunate that he got spun there and obviously the contact came from us,” said Hamlin, who finished 12th.
“But I don’t have any other comment than that. We had some contact into (Turn) 1 and it was obviously a really rough race before that.
“We’ll work through it. We’ll see how it goes. Obviously it’s unfortunate the contact happened.”
When pressed further, Hamlin said he made a mistake.
“I was trying to get by him, that was a task in itself,” he said.
“I’ll let leadership quarterback it however they would like to… It’s crazy unfortunate why we’re racing the way we are.”
Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart said the team faced a balancing act of Gibbs wanting to win races and its other three drivers fighting for the title.
“He was probably looking for more of a break than he got, that’s what I would guess. That’s what I saw,” said Gabehart.
“The hard part is the #54 is trying to win races and make a name for himself as well, so everybody needs more space than they have. That sounds like racing to me.
“This is the type of conversation when you run well, you’re fortunate to have to have every so often. We’ll have to have that conversation again.
“I think there’s a reasonably etiquette to follow where everyone can get what they need out of it.
“At the same time, you can’t create an atmosphere where everybody just has to roll over and play nice all the time or you won’t hang as many banners as Joe Gibbs Racing has hung.
“To a certain degree on Sundays, you have to be selfish. It’s something you have to balance and we’ve just got to do a better job of getting that balanced here.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues on Monday, September 29 (AEST) at Kansas Speedway.
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