Denny Hamlin reveals what he texted Austin Dillon after late wreck at COTA

Denny Hamlin said he texted Austin Dillon after Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA to apologize for crashing into him in the final stage on Lap 78.

“I texted Austin and said, ‘Listen man, I apologize. I ran through shit,’” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “It’s no excuse, it’s still on me no matter what the circumstances, so it certainly screwed RCR over in more ways than one.”

Hamlin, battling with Dillon for 20th, ran through dirt on the road course and slammed into the No. 3 car. Hamlin took responsibility for the incident.

“As soon as I went left to pass him, I wasn’t offline or anything. But I could see the track had shit all over it,” Hamlin said. “You can’t see that until you pull out of line. I’m up his ass and we’re going through the esses. I’m like, OK, I’m going to go left here and get on the inside. As soon as I went left, I hear shit hitting the fenders. … As soon as I touched the break, over, spun out.”

Denny Hamlin educates ‘conspiracy theorists,’ reveals last person he wants to see win NASCAR races

The final caution of the race brought along the Lap 83 restart and placed Christopher Bell, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, next to Kyle Busch, Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammate.

Some might say Hamlin intentionally ran into Dillon to give Bell a chance at the win. Hamlin said quite the opposite. Hamlin claims he didn’t intentionally take out Dillon and he had no interest in aiding Bell to his second consecutive victory.

“Let me educate the conspiracy theorists. I am a competitive person as you may know. There is nobody that I hate seeing win more than my teammate because I know they’re driving the same thing that I’m driving,” Hamlin said. “I know every driver is like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy for my teammate winning.’ I mean, I love Christopher Bell. He’s a great dude, but I don’t want him to beat me.

“Like, that’s not a good look for me. You always measure yourself off your teammates and trust me, I never saw the lead all day. I had no f***ing idea who was up front.”

Bell did get the win while Hamlin struggled mightily at COTA, finishing P21. Hamlin has yet to crack the code at COTA, finishing 14th or worse in five starts. Dillon’s race went sideways after the incident as he finished 35th.