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Denny Hamlin Brands Rick Hendrick’s Drivers as the Biggest Losers From Darlington

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Armaan Agarwal | Last updated Sep 10, 2025 1:49 AM ET

Southern 500 at Darlington. To everyone’s surprise Hendrick Motorsport was at the backfoot with none of its cars even making it to the top 10. Now, JGR veteran Denny Hamlin has hit out at Rick Hendrick‘s team.

The top Chevrolet garage simply couldn’t get anything right at Darlington. Chase Elliot finished P17 while Kyle Larson clinched a P19 result. Things were even worse for William Byron and Alex Bowman who could only manage P21 and P31 respectively. Though, Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently stated that Rick Hendrick will get his team back on-track as soon as the next Playoff race this weekend.

Denny Hamlin acknowledged that HMS had a hard time during the Southern 500. The Toyota driver insisted that he expected to see the Chevy cars far higher up the order. However, Hamlin did point out that not all was the team’s fault with various factors coming into play, particularly for Chase Elliot. Moreover, it is believed that Larson was suffering from car damage.

The Hendrick guys, obviously, the result was bad. I think they were better than that, I think they’re getting, the fans are getting a little too overzealous on like, wow, they performed 17th or worse. They did not. The 9 obviously got caught on his strategy, unfortunately, by that yellow. That hurt him. Larson, more than likely, had toe link damage, if I had to guess.
Denny Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental podcast.

Additionally, the JGR veteran insisted that Byron and Bowman simply didn’t click. Denny Hamlin did not shy away from hitting out at the latter, insisting that he already had low expectations.

Byron wasn’t good. And then the 48, I don’t know. … So, I don’t know. Surely it altered the result, surely it changed his result but I just don’t know if the 48 was going to be that good anyway.
Denny Hamlin stated.

Denny Hamlin applauds 23XI Racing after Southern 500

Hendrick Motorsports might not have had a strong outing, but Denny Hamlin’s team, 23XI Racing sure did. 23XI is co-owned by Hamlin alongside NBA legend Michael Jordan. The Toyota team is in a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace both had strong showings at Darlington. Reddick narrowly missed out on the win against Chase Briscoe on the final lap. While Wallace managed to finish just ahead of Hamlin in P6.

Denny Hamlin asserted that his team had a positive weekend at Darlington. He recognized Bubba Wallace’s standout driving in stage 1. Moreover, he was full of praise for the way Tyler Reddick made his way through the field. Though, Briscoe ultimately defeated Reddick.

Yeah, 23XI had a really good day. You know, Bubba, I thought in the first stage was super strong. He passed us and was kinda catching the 19 before he pitted. Reddick got back on the horse with speed. I thought he was going to pass the 19. I thought he was leaps and bounds faster than he was at the end of the race. Obviously, the dirty air and whatnot, he wasn’t going to get around him.
Denny Hamlin explained.

Certainly, Denny Hamlin seems to have everything going for him on-track. Not only is the JGR driver in good position for the Playoffs, so are two of his drivers. However, NASCAR Playoffs are unpredictable, and things can change at any moment.

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

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