Hamlin regrets Petty flap

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Denny Hamlin said Friday he regretted his off-track spat with Kyle Petty last weekend after the two crashed and Hamlin fell to last among the 12 drivers bidding for NASCAR’s Nextel Cup title.

But Hamlin and Petty still haven’t spoken since the incident, and avoided each other again Friday despite standing 10 yards apart before qualifying for Sunday’s LifeLock 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson won the pole position in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a lap of 175.063 mph.

Johnson is third in the Chase for the Cup playoff, only four points behind points leader and teammate Jeff Gordon, a two-time Kansas winner who qualified fourth.

Ryan Newman, who won here in 2003 for Penske Racing South, initially qualified second in a Dodge at 174.893 mph on the 1.5-mile Kansas tri-oval.

But NASCAR said a post-race inspection showed the roof of Newman’s car was too low. Newman’s time was disallowed, and he’ll now start at the rear of the 43-car field.

Hamlin, a Joe Gibbs Racing driver and 2006 rookie of the year, hit the back of Petty’s Dodge last Sunday, causing both to wreck at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

As a helmeted Hamlin sat in his car awaiting repairs in the garage, the veteran Petty came to Hamlin’s window, berated the driver and slapped Hamlin’s visor.

Hamlin then climbed out of his car and threatened to punch Petty as crew members kept them apart.

But the 26-year-old Hamlin said Friday, “I should have just let it go as soon as he chose to hit my helmet. I should have just let it go and not gotten out of the car. It would have been no big issue really.”

Instead, the faceoff remained the talk of the Cup garage ahead of Sunday’s race, the third of 10 Chase races.

Hamlin is 158 points behind Gordon but insisted his Chase hopes were not over. He noted that Johnson was 136 points behind at Kansas a year ago and still won the Cup.

“We’re not out of it by any means,” Hamlin said. “There’s so much racing left. Eight races is a ton.”

Hamlin isn’t known for being overly aggressive, but the Virginia native acknowledged that “my fuse is so short that if anybody does anything to me . . . I immediately want to jump on them. That part I got to get over.

“I’m not going to get back into whether it’s [Petty’s] fault or my fault, but it was a situation where I was put into a small box to try to avoid him, and I couldn’t get through it,” he said.

Petty, 47, “is someone that I really respect a lot regardless of any on-track incidents,” Hamlin said, noting that both drivers have children’s charities that work with each other.

“I’m trying my best to portray a good image, but I’m trying my best to be myself in the same breath,” Hamlin said. “It’s tough to have a personality, and show it to everyone, without being criticized. I’m just trying to find that balance on how I should be.”

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve said he would try to qualify for his first Cup race next week at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway -- a step that angered Gordon.

The 2.66-mile Talladega oval is one of the series’ fastest, most treacherous tracks.

That’s no place for Villeneuve’s first Cup race, even though Villeneuve made his NASCAR debut last weekend in a truck trace in Las Vegas, Gordon said.

“I don’t agree with it, especially when [the race is] so crucial to the championship,” Gordon said. “I’m fired up about this. That race? Why?”

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james.peltz@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Nextel Cup

*--* Driver Points Behind 1 Jeff Gordon 5,340 -- 2 Tony Stewart 5,338 2 3 Jimmie Johnson 5,336 4 4 Kyle Busch 5,330 10 5 Clint Bowyer 5,322 18 6 Carl Edwards 5,312 28 7 Martin Truex Jr. 5,294 46 8 Jeff Burton 5,265 75 9 Kevin Harvick 5,225 115 10 Matt Kenseth 5,224 116 11 Kurt Busch 5,189 151 12 Denny Hamlin 5,182 158 *--*

REMAINING RACES

* Sunday: LifeLock 400, Kansas City, Kan.

* Oct. 7: UAW-Ford 500, Talladega, Ala.

* Oct. 13: Bank of America 500, Concord, N.C.

* Oct. 21: Subway 500, Martinsville, Va.

* Oct. 28: Pep Boys Auto 500, Hampton, Ga.

* Nov. 4: Dickies 500, Fort Worth

* Nov. 11: Checker Auto Parts 500, Avondale, Ariz.

* Nov. 18: Ford 400, Homestead, Fla.