Denny Hamlin reveals why teammate was p••••• after St Louis

Joe Gibbs Racing had what appeared to be a terrific day in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff showdown at St Louis, but not everybody was happy.

A 1-2 and three cars running in the top 10 in the Enjoy Illinois 300 leaves the team in a strong position as NASCAR heads to Bristol this weekend (Saturday, 7.30pm, USA) for the elimination race in the Round of 16.

READ MORE: Hendrick Motorsports facing early playoff EXIT as star suffers St Louis nightmare

It was Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe leading the way up front, but for Christopher Bell there was only frustration and anger as he finished in seventh position.

Bell remains well placed to progress to the next stage of the playoffs, well above the cutline. But his frustration boiled over despite that.

Bell goes off on JGR at St Louis

Speaking on the radio immediately postrace, he raged: “We just f****** ran seventh with the best car on the track. Every f****** week it’s the same s***. We’re the last car to pit road. I’m over it.”

Bell was not wrong in his assessment of the car underneath him on Sunday - after all, Hamlin and Briscoe proved their Toyotas were the dominant force. And Denny has his own theory about why his teammate was so angry about his result.

Hamlin on why teammate was so angry

Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, he explained: “That was uncharacteristic. He made some big comments after the race, the team said that ‘hey, this is the kind of day we needed to rest easy at Bristol’ and he was just p*****.

“I can tell you this, and he hinted at it after the race. I think me and the 19 running 1-2, when he looked on the scoreboard, p***** him off to no end.

“I believe that every driver measures themself off of their teammates. And I think he’s growing frustrated that he’s not getting the results that he thinks he should be getting at this time. And when his teammates are winning, I think that’s boiling over even more into his feels.

“I think that he vented out them staying out longer than everybody else, so more like that pitstop that they had. That’s when the 9 and the 20, they stayed out late. They had a little fresher tyres and they were catching us before that caution came. But I think he was just looking for the nearest dog to kick and vented that ‘we finished seventh with one of the fastest cars.

“That’s frustration boiling over, and I’m sure he’s over it today.”

Hamlin believes Bell has traditionally been THE benchmark for JGR at Gateway, which may also have factored into that postrace frustration.

“He was kind of the gold standard for JGR at this racetrack, New Hampshire, probably will be again. So he’s the guy that I absolutely listen to the most when we come to these tracks, and try to get better with.”

NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings after St Louis (Gateway)

After St Louis, and heading to Bristol, this is how the playoff standings look:

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