"I'm not too discouraged with what we ended up with [at New Hampshire]," Hamlin said of his runner-up finish behind Bowyer. "But I know we were the fastest legal car."
Hamlin virtually accused the entire Childress organization of operating questionably.
"The more they reel the other [RCR] teams in, the better off our team's going to be," Hamlin said. "It's going to affect the No. 29 [Kevin Harvick], the No. 31 [Jeff Burton] and the No. 33 [Bowyer]. I think the only difference is the No. 33 won the race so he went to the tech center.
And Childress, trying his best to stay on the high road, fired the last shots as he defended his organization's 40-year legacy in the sport and his stunning comeback this season in which RCR went from no cars in the 2009 Chase to having all three teams competing for the 2010 title.
"I don't think it puts a cloud over it because we haven't been out of the box -- this is the first time that they've said we were out of the box," Childress said. "Everybody gets close to the lines. No matter what the tolerance of the engine is supposed to be -- 358 [cubic inches], you're at 357.9.
"I'm proud of our team and I'm going to walk just as high -- I ain't going to take a step out of the way for nobody, and I'm going to look anybody in the eye because I know what we did. I know what we've done to get us here, and we haven't cheated to get here.
A day later
What had merely been a war of words between Denny Hamlin and the Richard Childress Racing organization spilled onto the race track Saturday when RCR driver Kevin Harvick appeared to deliberately wreck Hamlin as Cup Series practice began. Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet appeared to clip Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota from behind and then cut Hamlin off as a 45-minute practice at the one-mile track got under way. The incident sent both cars to the garage area, where their stalls were located right next to each other and the drivers subsequently exchanged heated words and had to be separated by Cup Series director John Darby.
After Saturday's incident, Childress made thinly veiled references to Harvick applying a little payback to Hamlin on the track.
"When you're talking about comments, you can't win a pissing match with a skunk," Childress said in obvious reference to Hamlin. "There are two things I've learned. One thing is that. The other is that you don't throw stones if you live in a glass house."
Asked for specifics of what happened between the two cars on the track, Childress replied: "I didn't see it. I can't comment on it."
Told there was considerable damage to Hamlin's right rear, Childress grinned and replied: "I don't know if he backed into Kevin or not."
Harvick declined comment until after finishing fifth in Saturday's Nationwide Series race, and even then said very little before cutting off questions. Asked what it said about RCR that one driver stuck up for another, he said only, "[We're] a tight-knit group, always have been." And when asked if he was concerned about any damage that might have been done to his car, he smiled and replied, "[The] car is just as fast [as it was before the incident]."
Childress said he was not worried about the repairs that had to be made to Harvick's car, either.
"Nah. Kevin went back out and he was fast, so we're going to be good," Childress said. "I didn't see what happened. I wasn't on top of the truck at the time. But we're all a good, tight-knit group and, well, you know. I made my two comments.
"I didn't see the whole thing, you know, but like I said earlier you can't win a pissing contest with a skunk. ... We're here to win races. That's all we're here for."
Then Hamlin fired yet another verbal parting shot across the bow of the RCR organization.
"I think I have the right to give my opinion -- and when you look at the two teams, and you look at the history of wrongdoing and penalties, the two teams, when they are compared side-by-side, our integrity speaks for itself," Hamlin said. "I think everyone at our team knows we're trying to do things the right way, and so be it."
Jimmy does that alot - bad race then win the next one.