Gibbs, Hendrick team tiffs linger

But upstart teammate Denny Hamlin doesn’t think that means he should have to take the fall for an accident that he says wasn’t his fault.

‘It’s painful to watch somebody trash you the way they did,’ Hamlin said. ‘And if I was behind him and totally blatantly wrecked him and took him out, he still should not have taken the route he took.’

Hamlin was leading early on at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday when Stewart ran into the back of his teammates’ car and both drivers crashed. Stewart blasted blamed Hamlin for slowing down in front of him, and questioned whether he understood what it meant to be a teammate.

Hamlin, who actually sits ahead of Stewart in the Nextel Cup standings going into Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, said he still respects Stewart’s leadership position in the team but wasn’t backing down.

‘He’s still the leader at Joe Gibbs Racing, without a doubt,’ Hamlin said. ‘He’s the guy who really, when I need help, I’ll still go to regardless. But there’s a point where being a leader doesn’t make you right.’

Hamlin said he would be looking for an explanation from Stewart this weekend, but it wasn’t clear whether he got one. Stewart wouldn’t talk about the incident on Friday, or confirm that he and Hamlin had spoken.

‘I’m not going to talk about that this week,’ Stewart said. ‘That was last week, I’m on to this week. So if you want to talk about something going on this week, great. If not, I don’t have time to mess around with stuff that happened last week or two years ago.’

The bickering between Stewart and Hamlin was just one of two high-profile intrasquad squabbles that showed no signs of cooling off at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday. As Hamlin returned Stewart’s verbal volley, Kyle Busch continued to vent about being ostracized by his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports.

Busch, moving on after this season to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr., complained after Saturday night’s race in Daytona that his teammates didn’t line up behind him to help him win. Busch reiterated his complaints Friday, saying he still thinks he’s the odd man out at Hendrick.

Busch said he and the other Hendrick drivers used to call and text-message each other, but he has been alienated lately.

‘I’m in the team meetings, just sitting there listening,’ Busch said. ‘I don’t even really talk about what my car does, because they all seem to talk amongst themselves. I’m sort of just sitting there in the corner.’