Denny Hamlin ranks NASCAR drivers’ pickleball skills after rainy race weekend in New Hampshire

What do NASCAR drivers do during a rain postponement? Hit the pickleball court, apparently. And if you want the inside scoop as to how good each driver is at the sport, Denny Hamlin has you covered.

In his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin revealed that there was a pickleball court at New Hampshire, courtesy of Marcus Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports. It was a big hit among the NASCAR Cup Series drivers during the wet weekend.

“Marcus Smith decided to put a pickleball court in the drivers’ lot,” Hamlin said. “I was interested to see who comes out here. I don’t know who plays and who doesn’t — I play a little bit … it was cool.”

It was such a big hit, in fact, that Hamlin revealed drivers were out until the early morning hours playing. All of this the day before the race. Although, it sounds like everyone knew the event at New Hampshire was doomed for postponement.

“We played til probably 1 a.m. or so. There were a lot of people playing. We all knew it was gonna rain on Sunday,” Hamlin said. “We knew we weren’t racing. I think if it was legit the night before (the race), we weren’t gonna stay out that late, but they had lights.”

So, after a busy weekend of pickleball action, what do the rankings look like? Hamlin jumped right in to give fans an inside look as to who has the skills on the court.

He did admit, though, that several of the guys were very close in skill level. Hamlin also omitted himself from contention.

“If I had to rank them, Austin Dillon, definitely No. 1. I’m not gonna put myself on this list,” Hamlin said. “No. 2 … man, they’re all really close … I’m gonna go (Ryan) Blaney (second), then Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.). Then I’m gonna say Kyle Busch, then I’ll go Brad (Keselowski).”

There you have it. If you ever host a pickleball tournament, those are the five NASCAR drivers you should invite to the party. Or, maybe don’t invite, if you’re hoping to win.

Because of the inclement weather, NASCAR pushed the Crayon 301 to Monday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. picked up the win on Monday, claiming his third checkered flag of the 2023 regular season.

It was a great bounce-back race for Truex, who finished 32nd and 29th in the previous two events. He sits atop the NASCAR Cup Series points standings following the victory.

Hamlin ended the race in seventh place.