Hamlin says he needs to 'grow up' after altercation

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Denny Hamlin said Friday that he needs to grow up and not let things get to him, but he didn't apologize for the on-track and off-track altercation he had last weekend with Kyle Petty.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

After Denny Hamlin bumped Kyle Petty from behind, causing both cars to crash, Petty confronted Hamlin in the garage.

"Kyle is someone I really respect a lot, regardless of any on-track incident," Hamlin said. "No matter what you do, Kyle is going to be right.

"And a lot of what he did [last weekend at Dover] was right. You never want to be involved in an incident with Kyle because he is respected a lot like Mark Martin is in the garage. So really, I've just got to learn to grow up," he said.

Hamlin said he hadn't spoken to Petty but plans to talk to him on pit road before qualifying Friday.

The accident involving Hamlin and Petty happened midway through the Nextel Cup race at Dover last weekend. Hamlin, one of 12 drivers in the Chase, was rapidly moving up on Petty, who was a couple laps down.

Petty had already allowed several of the leaders by him. Hamlin, running sixth at the time, bumped Petty from behind and caused both cars to crash.

Petty was furious and confronted Hamlin in the garage while Hamlin was sitting in his car with his helmet on. Petty pointed his finger at Hamlin before slapping the visor down on Hamlin's helmet.

Hamlin angrily shot out the window of the car, wanting to go after Petty, but his crew held him back. Both men blamed the other for the accident.

"I'm not going to get back into whether it was his fault or my fault," Hamlin said. "It was a situation where I was put in a small box to try to avoid him and I couldn't get through it.

"I think he knew he did check up because he got loose. He had gotten into a few incidents before that, so he probably was at his boiling point and anything was going to set him off," he said.

Petty didn't want to talk about it Friday, preferring to concentrate on the Kansas event.

Hamlin had a disagreement earlier this year with Tony Stewart, his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing. They criticized each other after Stewart bumped Hamlin and they wrecked in July at Daytona. Joe Gibbs spoke to both drivers about the incident.

"I have to figure out how to get through a season without altercations," Hamlin said. "I expect more of myself and have expectations this year that I didn't have last year [as a rookie]. That probably has caused me to do some things I normally wouldn't do."

Hamlin said the one thing he regrets about last week's incident was jumping out of his car to try to go after Petty.

"I need to not let things get to me like that," Hamlin said. "My fuse is so short. Anybody who does anything to me on the race track or outside the race track, I immediately want to jump on them. That part I've got to get over."

Hamlin emphasized that he isn't a driver who aggressively caused other drivers to crash.

"I'll be the first to say I'm extremely moody at times," Hamlin said. "But I've earned my way here. I didn't get here because of my last name or because we had money. I earned my way based on performance and being respectful of other people."

Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.

Source: ESPN.com