Last year’s playoff saw Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin come together while fighting it out hard at Martinsville. Later on, the JGR driver went on to interrupt Bowman while he was celebrating. Only recently, Alex Bowman sat down for an interview where he spoke about what were his thoughts regarding the clash last year.

During the interview, Bowman stated, “But at the same time, if it’s hard racing, at some point you’ve got to understand. While in my mind, that was hard racing. I made a mistake, got loose, and crashed him. In his mind, obviously, he saw that differently and still sees that differently. So that’s just part of it.”

He was further asked what went through his head when he found Hamlin’s car facing his way.

Bowman responded, “I’m like, “Man, I messed up and he’s not gonna take that (explanation).” Like I’m not going to just be able to say “Hey, man, I messed up. I’m sorry.” It was like, “This is going to be large and in front of a lot of people.”

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After Bowman picked up the win and was on his way to celebrate on the start-finish line, an agitated Denny Hamlin popped up and blocked Bowman’s car with his Toyota. The Hendrick’s driver then drifted around and sat face to face with Hamlin’s car for a brief second before both of them were trying to accelerate into each other’s nose. Denny then gave him two birds before backing out. Somewhere in all this chaos, a flying water bottle hitting Hamlin’s car during the confrontation went nearly unnoticed.

What did Denny Hamlin call Alex Bowman after their on-track standoff

After their faceoff on track, an irritated Denny Hamlin spoke during the post-race interview and called Bowman “a hack.”

While speaking to the media Hamlin called Bowman a terrible person and mentioned that despite having a fast car the Hendrick Motorsport driver still can’t drive.

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During the on-track confrontation, Denny Hanlin was told to look at the “big picture” by his team, mostly referring to the fact that his actions might lead to stringent actions from NASCAR.