Denny Hamlin still recovering from shoulder surgery, will race Busch Light Clash

This offseason, Denny Hamlin had shoulder surgery to fix a nagging injury that got worse toward the end of 2023. The NASCAR driver wasn’t in a sling or anything at production day, but he didn’t say he was 100% either.

Good news for Hamlin fans, he plans to race the Busch Light Clash without a backup driver. Think about how hard that quarter-mile track is on a driver’s shoulders as they take those turns every few seconds, over and over again.

Talking at production day with Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, Denny Hamlin explained his recovery. It’s still ongoing.

“It’s been okay, it’s been really hard,” Hamlin said. “There’s really no shortcuts to getting this thing better. They told me it would be three months, and there’s just no shortcuts around it so it’s going to be three months before I get back 100%, but certainly, I feel better than I did to end the season. So we’ll work our way through the Clash and get stronger and go on from there.”

As far as a backup driver for The Clash?

“Not planning on it at the moment. Already back in the sim just working through range of motion and getting my strength back. Strength is going to be the biggest thing that hinders me, but we would actually rather fatigue ourselves out at the Clash that way I’m stronger two weeks from then.”