Denny Hamlin shares thoughts on where NASCAR championship should be held

Denny Hamlin had some fascinating thoughts on where NASCAR’s championship weekend should be held moving forward.

Of course, it was held at Homestead for an extended period of time, and that’s where NASCAR will head this Sunday. Ahead of that race, Hamlin provided his thoughts on the track, and elaborated on how he feels about his chances.

“I don’t have any personal thoughts. I think that it’s a strong track for us,” Hamlin said, via his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I can’t remember how we ran there last year. I think we were somewhere in the top five. I got in the wall late, trying to push. I don’t know, probably finished P6 or P7. But I don’t know. It’s been a good track for us.

“We’ve won there two or three times. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Again, I’m +4. My goal is to extend that out, and win the race. So I love the track.”

As for the finale? Hamlin touched on the talk about moving championship weekend back to Phoenix, but he recognized NASCAR fans might want to be careful what they wish for.

“There’s been a lot of talk about, ‘Should we move the finale back to Homestead?’ I don’t know. If we run Homestead, you know, because people aren’t in love with the racing product at Phoenix, that’s the reason they’re saying this, ‘Should we move it around, move it back?’ They don’t love the racing product at Phoenix. That’s a Goodyear problem, in my opinion. If we get the tire right, you’ll have a much better race at Phoenix. But they’re trying, I guess. It’s just a really slow process, to try to get it better,” Hamlin added. “Just know, that if NASCAR lets races play out, as they should in the finale, if Homestead goes green, there could be someone with a 15-second lead. So you’re going to have to be okay with that as well. So it’s not just automatically going to be the light switch of, ‘This is the racing we’re looking for.’ Some people like for it to play out naturally. They like someone to get a 15-second lead and show that, ‘Hey, I’m just spanking the field here. This is just, domination.’ I’m one of those people. I like when they let it go, no shenanigans. No cautions that were very questionable. Just letting it play out, because there’s a lot at stakes, and the team spent a lot of money to run well, and they deserve, if they’ve got an advantage in the race, they deserve to keep that advantage.

“So I don’t know what the right answer is, when it comes to the finale, and where do you put it. But you know, you have a chance for a runaway, every single race that we go to.”

Alas, Denny Hamlin makes some solid points, as it pertains to the racing at Phoenix compared to Homestead. Time will tell if NASCAR decides to make a change in the coming years, but the circuit is headed to the desert for the foreseeable future.