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Denny Hamlin claims it was a 'big deal' to celebrate Talladega race win with Michael Jordan
Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

The Talladega Cup race marked the first win of the 2024 season for 23XI Racing. Tyler Reddick took advantage of the last lap wreck and secured his maiden superspeedway win in the Cup. The victory celebration had double the excitement as usual due to presence of the TRD team’s co-owner Michael Jordan on the victory lane.

Michael Jordan celebrated the win heart with the Tyler Reddick and his son Beau on the podium. He was joined by co-owner and JGR driver Denny Hamlin as well. Now the No:11 Toyota Camry driver, via his podcast, has detailed how excited the NBA legend was seeing the car with Jumpman logo win and asserted that it’s a moment that can’t be downplayed.

When you see how [excited] all the crew guys were, the team members were, Michael [Jordan] how excited he was. It’s a big deal, man. You can’t downplay it in kind of way I’m sure they got Michael highlights going all over the damn place on social media. Denny Hamlin said via Action Detrimental.

In the same podcast, Hamlin also asked his social media manger and the podcast co-host Jared Allen to do something about the photo of the dup together in the victory lane. He previously had shared a video of the embracing each other on social media.

Certainly, Jared, you got the photo op of us kind of embracing there in Victory Lane. It’s his first time that he got to experience that. Denny Hamlin said.

Denny Hamlin breaks down the emotional roller coaster on Sunday

The JGR driver had a day to forget as a racer on Sunday. Usually when the 23XI team secures wins, Hamlin often finishes upfront with them making it and extra sweet day for him. But this Sunday things weren’t on his side as he was collected in a All-Toyota crash alongside Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones, forcing him to DNF.  

I still find myself hard because I’m such a tough competitor, getting away from the emotion of, ‘Damn, my day just sucked.’ Oddly enough when my cars had won I had a pretty good day myself….I left there with no points and then all of a sudden my brain has to shift to, ‘Oh I need to be excited now.’ And I was, but I really was once I got to Victory Lane, right? Denny Hamlin said.

The win was really a moral booster for the No:11 Toyota Camry driver who was emotionally down. He now will be focusing his concentration towards helping his other driver, Wallace, to secure a playoff spot by winning a race, with 16 races left in the regular season.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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