Denny Hamlin provided an update on the recovery of his shoulder following his victory in the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.
During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin elaborated on how he’s feeling following the first test he’s had to pass pertaining to his shoulder in 2024. After the injury bothered him all last season, especially near the end, Hamlin took measures to fix it over the last couple of months.
While he’s sick of answering questions about it, Hamlin revealed that he’s feeling good, and that he should be ready to roll as the Daytona 500 looms in the horizon.
“It’s good. I got asked that question a billion times. I don’t ever want to be asked that again,” Hamlin elaborated, regarding his shoulder. ” It hurts today. It does. It’s just fatigued. It’s just like anything else. You go to the gym and you do 100 push-ups, your chest is probably going to be sore the next day. Same thing with the shoulder. You’re working — we work muscles in our body that just don’t get worked, you can’t work them in the gym. It’s not — it’s probably possible, but it’s just — some of it’s just first race back soreness, as well. But yeah, I feel good. I feel as though we’re kind of get eased into the season.
“Daytona will not be a real tough one on the shoulder. There’s not a whole lot of movement. If you look at the in-car cameras, I mean, guys were really turning the wheel a ton at The Clash, so that was a little concern. But when the adrenaline gets going in the car, I feel like we handled it fine, and certainly the result was there. So we’re ready to move on from it, and this is going to be a year where hopefully we stay healthy, and if I do, I’ll feel really good about it.”
Alas, that’s great to know Hamlin will be at full strength as his chase for a NASCAR title begins in less than two weeks. If he considered The Clash a tough race for his shoulder and he ended up winning in the end, who knows how dominant he could be at a track where he won’t have to worry as much.
Denny Hamlin is motivated, and ready to try to capture his first NASCAR championship in 2024. He’s not going to let his shoulder get in the way of his ultimate goal once again this season, as he turns his attention to Daytona, a track where he’s had so much success in his career.
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