Denny Hamlin is noticing one big issue with the NASCAR Cup Series. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, the three-time Daytona 500 winner talked about how a driver’s skillset is getting close to not playing into success in NASCAR.
“Cup racing, oh my gosh, it is a whole other thing now,” Hamlin said. “I hate to say that skill is almost not a factor anymore, but it’s getting close to that. You have skill in the Xfinity Series, and when you get runs Tony Stewart always used to tell me do whatever you got to do to keep the run going. When you get a massive run, if you can keep your run going by pushing someone else and then creating another run, do that because you’re attached. That keeps it going and you can bounce from car to car to car.”
What started the conversation was the Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday. Hamlin said that Xfinity racing at Talladega is like what Cup Series racing has been for years.
Hamlin wasn’t able to make a big run on Sunday during the Geico 500 as he was involved in a wreck with Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones. The crash happened in the third stage of the race and ended the day for all three drivers.
“I just saw the No. 43 get turned and then I got turned,” Hamlin told Regan Smith. “I’m really not sure which one happened first. Obviously, there was a bad push towards the front and wiped us all out. It’s just poetic.”
Denny Hamlin is proud of Tyler Reddick
Sunday was not all bad for Hamlin as Tyler Reddick won the Geico 500. Reddick drives for 23IX Racing, co-owned by Hamlin and Michael Jordan.
“Every 23XI win is like watching your kid win,” Hamlin said to Jamie Little. “It always means a little bit more when they do it than when you do it. Certainly, the day was disastrous for us and I’m sitting over there by the tunnel just waiting to head to the airport and the TV is a little bit behind so I’m sitting there [looking around] I can’t figure out who had won until they came back around.
“Man just so excited for this race team and Tyler, Billy, all the guys that really help make this happen. So, it’s great Michael [Jordan] gets to enjoy it. He’s been wanting to be in Victory Lane for quite some time now, and it’s really about how this team’s progressing over time. Yeah, it’s a superspeedway win, but these guys are contending week in and week out and they deserve to win.”
On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this report.
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