Fresh off the race weekend in Phoenix, Denny Hamlin is talking about the short track package and what more can be done to improve racing. The NASCAR veteran was one of the few pleased with what he saw this weekend.
On the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin talked about the horsepower issue in NASCAR. He also called NASCAR out by revealing that engine bills have stayed more or less the same despite the decrease in power.
Hamlin insisted that bills have remained the same and that NASCAR isn’t telling the whole story as to why they won’t increase the power.
“The engine bills are the same, I’ve been saying this forever,” Hamlin said on his podcast. “The engine bills are the same now as they were when they were 900, Jared. We buy engines, we know.”
When asked why the power doesn’t just go up then, Hamlin reiterated that he doesn’t know why.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Dustin Long, call Jim France and ask, I don’t know, I don’t have the answers for that.”
The JGR driver continued.
“I don’t know I’ve seen … I don’t know. You hear [Steve] O’Donnell talk about it because reporters ask him constantly, ‘The drivers overwhelmingly want this, it seems like the fans want this, why not?’ They [NASCAR] usually have a reason but sometimes it’s, ‘Hey we’re looking at all options, we’re not ruling it out, we’re not saying we are,’ right? This is the first thing, when it comes to horsepower, it’s the first thing I’ve not seen NASCAR react to the media about. Usually, they react to everything, when something is hot media-wise, they react to it. … There’s clearly a reason that’s not being explained to people or the drivers, of why we are where we are.”
Denny Hamlin one of few drivers to support changes
All weekend in Phoenix the talk was about the new short track package. Well, it didn’t deliver drastic results. So, of course, everyone has a hot take about it. However, Denny Hamlin was pretty consistent, even after practice.
For Hamlin, the increases in passing were minimal, but there. Things had changed. Even Christopher Bell admitted that the car at least drove differently. Speaking of Bell, he was able to move up from P21 to P1 in the last green flag run of the race in order to win the thing.
So, is it as bad as everyone keeps saying or does it depend on the setup of the car? Or are we just seeing the consequences of Phoenix Raceway, a unique, flat one-mile oval with the biggest dogleg in all of NASCAR?
There is work to be done, but Sunday was a better race overall than many are making it out to be. It was no Atlanta, but then again, every race can’t be that. It is what makes those special moments so special. Rarity.
More must-reads: