Nate Ryan

USA TODAY Sports

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin turned an explanatory news conference into an impassioned character defense Friday, angrily challenging speculation he hadn't missed a Sprint Cup race because of an eye injury.

"My health is my business," Hamlin said after turning the fastest lap in practice at Martinsville Speedway. "But what if it was cancer or a tumor? I don't have to tell anyone that. It's my business.

People who think negatively of me or think we sidestepped some kind of drug test or something, it's ridiculous. I'm in one of the top three cars in NASCAR. I'd have to be an absolute moron — moron! — to risk that.

"I have a daughter I've got to provide for for a really long time. And for people to question who I am inside and outside of the race car, I've never done anything to even put that in question."

NASCAR didn't clear Hamlin to race Sunday at Auto Club Speedway after track doctors sent him to the emergency room for examination after diagnosing vision problems that were believed to be related to a sinus infection.

Hamlin had a sliver of metal removed from his left eye Sunday night before returning to North Carolina, but Joe Gibbs Racing didn't release a timeline of events until Hamlin was cleared to race Wednesday.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. called Tuesday for clarification of the timeframe because he said the perception was "bad for NASCAR and bad for Denny" in the absence of information.

A Friday session with news media was Hamlin's first opportunity to present his side of events publicly. When asked if he agreed with Earnhardt that the incident had impugned his reputation, the driver of the No. 11 Toyota said he was a family man whose outgoing personality was misunderstood.

"I go to Bobcats games, I go out and I hang out with friends in public," Hamlin said. "I don't stay tucked in my motorhome. I don't stay tucked into my house. It's not what I like to do. So because I'm out there a little bit more, people think I go out and I party?

"I don't drink at all hardly — ever. I've never done drugs — ever. I'm as clean as they come. I don't know why people question who I am outside the racetrack, because I worked too hard to get here, for one, to throw it all away. And if anyone has any questions about that, they can ask me directly … because I'll tell you. But it bothers me that my character is questioned. And people think there's some kind of conspiracy, because, like I said, I've worked too hard to get here and it's what I've wanted to do since I was 5 years old. There's not one thing in the world I would do to switch positions with anyone in the world, because I just feel that lucky.

"I'm done justifying and defending myself on those things. I'm not going to let those people drag me down. It's just frustrating. Just because I'm out there a little bit more in the public, that bugs me because I'm a human being. I like doing fun things. If people think I have to go out and drink to have fun, they're wrong and they haven't hung out with me, because I don't. It just bothers me, because there's people that like to make rumors. And of course, within our NASCAR community, rumors become truth when enough people say it. So I'm done."

Hamlin said he and the team waited until medical testing was completed before providing details.

"I don't want to be speaking out of line and not knowing exactly what I'm talking about until I knew exactly what the problem was," he said. "We didn't know that until Wednesday, when I finally got all clear and they ran all the tests again to make sure we were 100%.

"I don't need to really justify a lot to a lot of people. I think the important people are NASCAR and my team guys. My health is my business, so I'll give you all the facts and let you sift through them."

He had plenty more to say Friday about a lost weekend in Fontana, Calif., for the second consecutive season. Hamlin, who missed four races last year after breaking his back in a last-lap crash at Auto Club Speedway, believes he came in contact with the metal while practicing his car (possibly through the cool system connected to his helmet).

He thought he was developing a sty Friday night on his upper eyelid, but he was well enough Saturday to practice. While shopping with his girlfriend Saturday night, the eye began botherhing him more, so he contacted a NASCAR medical liaison and visited the infield care center. The staff couldn't find anything wrong with the eye.

"We started trying to figure out what would be causing it," Hamlin said. "Trying to cover all the possibilities, I showed them a CT scan from January where I had a really, really bad sinus infection. I started feeling better and I never went back to him to get a scan."

Hamlin woke up Sunday with pain that was twice as bad and impaired vision. Another visit to the care center turned up no answers, and he was sent to a hospital for see an optometrist, who removed the metal.

Hamlin said he still wanted to race and summoned NASCAR president Mike Helton to "come rescue me out of this infield care center. Get me out of here and let me race."

But after meeting with Helton, two doctors and JGR president J.D. Gibbs, Hamlin was convinced of the gravity of the situation and the concern of the staff, which also treated him for his crash last year.

"The symptoms I showed, they said, 'If this was 3 in the morning, we would tell you to go to the hospital right now, because we don't know if this is something (like a) tumor,'" Hamlin said. "Whether the infection got to the back of the eyeball and was affecting my brain. They were looking out for me, and you can't fault any group of people … it's hard for me to be selfish saying I should be able to get in the car no matter what when they're trying to look out for my best interests.

"It won't keep me from going to the infield care center at any point. I wanted to race, of course, no matter what. If I felt like I was going to be a liability, I would have pulled myself during the race. But there are protocols we have to go through and it's not just my safety that has got to be taken into account. We're racing around other guys, and that's one of the fastest tracks we go to. What if I caused a wreck early on? I don't need to be a liability out there."

Besides feeling better, the good news for Hamlin is that he remains a championship contender with NASCAR's new policy awarding Chase for the Sprint Cup berths based on wins.

"We still have a good shot to win a lot of races from here until the Chase, so take the safe approach," he said. "It sucks, because I wish I would have gotten it out on Saturday. I would have been fine for Sunday, but it's just part of it. It's just bad luck. Track hates me.

Hamlin intimated he could be the first of multiple drivers who miss races this season because of heavier impacts resulting from increased speeds. NASCAR has implemented a more stringent policy for concussion testing.

"You've got to build in some kind of protective bubble over the drivers when they have an incident that possibly they have to sit out because of a concussion," he said. "It's hard to say, 'you can't be part of the championship picture because of something that's relatively out of your control.' Mike Helton explained it to me greatly right as soon as we got out of that office: 'This is why we built this system in place – for things like this. Your season is not over. Go win next weekend and everything is going to be fine.' "

Hamlin, who has four victories in 16 starts at Martinsville, is aiming to accomplish just that.

"I'm going to win (Sunday), I promise," he said.​

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