Austin Dillon vows to get revenge on Denny Hamlin

LOUDON, N.H. – Denny Hamlin turned sideways into Kyle Busch and had Austin Dillon all bent out of shape.

Hamlin roughed up the field and bruised some feelings, when he nudged Dillon out of the lead Saturday and raced to his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season.

Hamlin had the dominant car and led 145 of the 200 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. But when Dillon briefly took the lead, Hamlin put his No. 20 into the left side of Dillon’s car at lap 179 and knocked him out of the way.

Hamlin was mad because he said Dillon jumped the restart, forcing him to make the hit-and-run pass any driver should attempt in that situation.

Dillon lashed out after the race and said Hamlin purposely tried to wreck him and vowed payback, though he stopped short of saying it would come in today’s Sprint Cup race.

“What is racing if you can’t race side by side for more than a corner? He never even went through a corner with me. The whole race,” Dillon said. “Didn’t want to, just moved me, missed the corner, wrecked me. I’m fine with racing rough. I promise you, I can do it to anybody.”

Hamlin and Dillon feuded in 2012 after they tangled in the second-tier series race at Texas Motor Speedway. It carried over when Hamlin leveled a nepotism charge against Dillon, grandson of team owner Richard Childress, saying, “He got his ride because of his name,”

“He called me a spoiled rich kid at Texas two years ago. And I hate it,” Dillon said. “He said check the last name. I said my last name’s Dillon, not Childress. But he is my grandfather. I’ll always act with class. Everybody in the media knows that. I’ve worked my way here like anyone else.

“With Denny acting like that, what does he want me to call him? I don’t do that. I know how to act.”

Sprint Cup

Need another sign Joe Gibbs Racing is back on the right track?

Carl Edwards, in his first season driving in the Sprint Cup Series for JGR, is on the pole for today’s 5-Hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – his first pole since November 2013.

The pole comes on the heels of JGR’s strong performance at last weekend’s race at Kentucky, which included a win by teammate Kyle Busch and all four JGR drivers finishing in the top five.

“It’s fun to have teammates that motivate me and push me and challenge me,” said Edwards, whose average lap speed of 135.164 mph in the final round got him the pole.

“The car is fast and not just fast, it drives very well. I think we have a shot at having a really good race.”

Joey Logano will start second, David Ragan third, Kyle Busch fourth and Denny Hamlin will line up fifth.