"You're forced to" - Denny Hamlin gives his verdict on 'mending fences' between teammates

Denny Hamlin gave his verdict on how to resolve issues between teammates in the aftermath of the incident between Trackhouse Racing drivers. Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain were involved in a heated argument due to an on-track incident in COTA. Suarez couldn't hide his emotions as he lost out on a top-five finish.

A week later at the Richmond Raceway, Denny Hamlin was asked to give his opinion on how to 'mend fences' between two teammates and two non-teammates. Hamlin replied that in a situation involving teammates, the drivers would be forced to resolve their differences in team meetings.

Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass shared Hamlin's reply where he said:

"I think you are forced to when you are in the same team because you got to go into the meetings you got to address it."

The #23 Toyota driver then talked about how he resolved issues with his teammates:

"Typically when I have an incident with a teammate, you have your Monday morning meeting and you talk it out after everyone leaves the room. That's just the most convenient time, you can talk face to face, you can talk about your differences. And I would probably imagine how it happens most times..."

Denny Hamlin then admitted that the differences between two non-teammates are mostly not resolved as both drivers tend to ignore each other.

"...The others, you can just avoid it if you want. You don't have to return calls or text message back, you don't have to answer to them in person. They are not allowed to retaliate back to you on the racetrack anymore. So you are forced to as teammates, you don't have to the other way."

Daniel Suarez recently stated that the Trackhouse Racing teammates have moved on from their disagreement as they head into the Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond Raceway.

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Kyle Busch recalls how Joe Gibbs resolved issues between him and Denny Hamlin

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, September 2020

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing for 15 seasons. The two drivers have had many racing incidents over the years, and it was team owner Joe Gibbs who resolved the differences between the two.

Speaking about the incident between Trackhouse Racing teammates, the #8 driver said:

"Myself and Denny once or twice; once for sure in the All-Star race but then after that there were a couple of speedway racing incidents where we had to agree to disagree on our philosophies on speedway racing. But that was where Joe (Gibbs) had to get involved and kind of talk us through our differences. That's kind of where it lies in my opinion."

Both veteran drivers offered similar advice, as they believed the two teammates would talk through their differences and reconcile.