“It never ends well”: Denny Hamlin refuses to let Austin Dillon’s spotter take blame for controversial move at Richmond

Denny Hamlin recently spoke about what Austin Dillon's spotter told the latter in the final moments of the race at Richmond on Sunday, August 11. During the radio interaction, the spotter was heard insisting Dillon to "wreck him," which he did twice to win the race. However, Hamlin and his team hold the Richard Childress Racing driver responsible for his actions and not his spotter.

As the checkered flag dropped and Hamlin went from a position of taking the win in front of his home fans to being hooked in the right rear, his spotter Chris Gabehart confirmed what Dillon had done.

"SMT confirms. He crushed you, bud. I just watched SMT, there’s no doubt about it. He crushed us," Gabehart told Hamlin (via NASCAR on X).

Following this, Austin Dillon's spotter took the blame upon himself. He told Hamlin's spotter that he was the one who told Dillon to right-rear Hamlin because they had to win.

This radio interaction was played in front of Denny Hamlin during a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, after which he gave his take on it.

"I got a text from my spotter (Chris Lambert) saying here's exactly what he told me. He was like, 'That's probably my fault. I told him to do it.' But Lambert being the rational person that he is, the one that thinks halfway straight, he's like, 'But also you're not driving the car. That guy has got to make his own decisions,'" Hamlin said.

"Man, nothing chaps me more than spotters thinking they should drive the cars, give advice on what actions drivers should make. It never ends well. It never ever ever ends well when spotters chime in and try to make decisions," he added (via Taylor Kitchen on X).

Denny Hamlin hints at revenge against Austin Dillon following Richmond race

As Austin Dillon took out Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to win at Richmond, he upset two of the biggest names in NASCAR. While the Team Penske driver didn't hold back on his words and emotions to call out Dillon after the race, Hamlin took a more measured approach.

“It’s tough, because this is what the young short-track racers see, and they think that this is OK because they watch the professionals on Sunday that are supposed to act like adults just do dumb (expletive),” Hamlin said, as per NASCAR.

Hamlin further said he was amazed that actions like that of Dillon were allowed by NASCAR. The 23XI Racing driver concluded by promising payback for Austin Dillon for what he did at Richmond.

"It’s just amazing that it’s allowed. I mean I don’t fault him because he’s completely desperate, right? He’s 30th in points. He jumps 20 spots in points, or whatever the hell it is. His season’s saved. Now, he’ll have to pay repercussions down the line for this, but it’s so worth it from his standpoint because there’s no guardrails or rules that say, ‘don’t do that,'” Hamlin said.