Denny Hamlin confirmed that he met with NASCAR President Steve Phelps before Sunday‘s Cup playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The meeting came a day after Hamlin‘s explosive comments to the media, saying the Next Gen car needed to be redesigned and blaming “bad leadership” by NASCAR for the safety concerns with the car.
Asked by NBC Sports about the meeting with Phelps, Hamlin said: “I don‘t have any details on it. I‘m grateful for Steve Phelps. He is a leader that we need. He is not who I directed any of my comments toward because he‘s a huge asset for our sport.
“Me and Steve talk about much bigger and broader things than the safety of the cars. He‘s got a lot bigger tasks ahead of him. I don‘t task him or bog him down with knick-knack things like car safety.”
Asked if Phelps discussed Hamlin‘s comments to the media in their meeting, Hamlin said: “We talked about that because we have that kind of relationship. I trust Steve. Best relationship I‘ve had with any president of NASCAR. He‘s done a lot for our sport. I made it very clear that I wasn‘t directing anything at him.”e.
— NBC Sports —
