Fans, insiders, and fellow competitors have all witnessed how Toyota drivers, particularly Denny Hamlin, approach racing with an all-or-nothing attitude. On the track, Hamlin may wear two hats as both driver and team owner, but once the green flag drops, he races anyone who stands in his way.<\/p>\n
He expects non-playoff drivers to lend a helping hand to playoff contenders, and he would race hard against any playoff drivers, even if it is from the same manufacturer or his own team. However, that\u2019s not a mindset shared across all manufacturers, as Chris Buescher recently pointed out.<\/p>\n
In New Hampshire, for example, when Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s non-playoff driver Ty Gibbs refused to yield to Hamlin while fighting for 11th, the veteran made his frustration quite evident, crowding Gibbs into the wall and ending his teammate\u2019s day. Hamlin simply stated that he wouldn\u2019t pull any punches, even if his own non-playoff teammate tries to race him hard.<\/p>\n
A similar story developed at Kansas, where Hamlin went door-to-door with his own 23XI Racing driver, Bubba Wallace, through the final turn. And although, in doing so, he left the bottom lane wide open for Chase Elliott to slip through and snatch the win, Hamlin proved that when he\u2019s behind the wheel, there\u2019s no room for sentiment; he\u2019s a driver first, team owner second.<\/p>\n
That mindset, however, doesn\u2019t quite fit under the Ford banner. Team Penske\u2019s drivers, including Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, have long emphasized clean racing and teamwork.<\/p>\n
Buescher echoed that sentiment ahead of the Talladega race, saying he knows exactly how he\u2019s expected to race around Blaney or Logano. \u201cYou\u2019re always aware of it. We\u2019re aware of it throughout the playoffs,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s been a pretty clear warning set for race manipulation right now, so I think that there\u2019s certainly a finicky way to go about that and I don\u2019t want to be caught up in that, and I don\u2019t want anybody to ever accuse me of laying over for anybody, so ultimately we are still going to the racetrack to win a race. That\u2019s not something that you would pull over or give anything away.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Buescher admitted there\u2019s a balance to strike. If the situation gets dicey, say, a risky four-wide move, there\u2019s a bit of extra calculation involved. But at the end of the day, every driver shows up to find a way to win.<\/p>\n When asked whether his loyalty lies with a Ford driver in the final moments, he said, \u201cYeah, and that\u2019s always been the case. It doesn\u2019t really matter if it\u2019s the playoffs or not.\u201d<\/p>\n