Things did not go as expected for Denny Hamlin in Bristol. In fact, the Food City 500 race shattered every Cup driver’s expectations. Everybody was anticipating a repeat of the 2024 Spring race, which witnessed excessive tire wear and 54 lead changes! Instead, Kyle Larson ended up leading 411 laps with 4 lead changes – that is the fewest in a 500-lap event in 43 years. The resulting drab reactions prompted Hamlin to call for a change.

When the Next-Gen car was first introduced in 2022, the primary objective was to raise parity in the field. Contrary to dominating leaders who have an upper hand in every race, the advantage also went to other talented racers. While Hamlin has been a long-time critic of the Next-Gen car, especially on short tracks, he feels that something else needs to be changed to bring exciting races back to NASCAR.

Denny Hamlin wants one for the fans

Well, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has not always sported a good look for NASCAR fans. Brushing with favorites like Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson had landed Denny Hamlin a black hat status. This time, however, he wants the fans to be happy. The recently concluded Bristol race was yet another snoozer, just like last year’s Fall race – the final 235 laps unfolded without a caution in sight, and the race witnessed just 4 different leaders as Kyle Larson led 411 laps en route to victory once again. While all signs point to the Next-Gen car being notoriously tough to overtake due to the parity, Hamlin had a different viewpoint.

On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said, “2022 when this [Next-Gen car] came out, we had 17 different winners… those days are done… If you run a pure race, like we ran this weekend [Bristol] Darlington was a pure race, Martinsville was a pure race… where you didn’t have these wild gimmick cautions… You’re going to have the best guys winning… They’re the best.” The JGR veteran feels that despite all the parity in the field, on such tracks, the car with the best team, resources, crew chief, etc, will always win. Then his Actions Detrimental co-host Jared Allen said, “You’re one of those guys, so wouldn’t you want this to just stay the same?” This ignited a dilemma.

Hamin has 56 Cup career wins to his name and won the ‘pure races’ that he mentioned, such as Martinsville and Darlington. However, he wants to see more passing and more thrilling action, and for him, that’s down to the tires. Hamlin even said after finishing 2nd at Bristol on Sunday, “I don’t see Goodyear ever having enough nerve to soften the tire.”

This massive disparity on the track at Bristol was attributed to Goodyear’s durable tires that sometimes ran over 100 laps – Ryan Blaney managed it for over 150 laps at one point. Hamlin wants a drastic change because the racing product is not thrilling enough. Hamlin added, “I care about the long-term health of the sport. I want our fans to be entertained. I want them to see someone that gets a speeding penalty… wouldn’t win that race… What made drivers seem great was their ability to – ‘Wow, are they going to come from the back of the pack and win this race?’ Now, those days are done. It’s not even a storyline anymore. ‘Well, we won’t be seeing them for the rest of the day. Sorry about your luck.'” He firmly declared, “I wanna see greatness displayed. We saw it displayed yesterday, but in a different kind of way. He [Kyle Larson] was able to stay up front, not really have a challenger. You want to see him have to go through the field at some point.”

Drivers willing their way to the front of the field like Tony Stewart during the 2011 Homestead Miami finale is long gone, according to Hamlin. In that championship race, Tony Stewart passed 118 cars to win the race and take home the title on a race-wins tiebreaker over Carl Edwards. Such feats are not possible partly due to the Gen 7 car and also because of the tire compounds, which provide too much grip during long green flag runs, like the 200+ run to end the race at Bristol.

Denny Hamlin said that Goodyear and NASCAR need to get on a war footing. Striking a balance between soft tires, a heavy car, and abrasive surfaces is most important, as Hamlin continued: “This tire at Bristol – anything over 60 degrees or so, it is the hardest tire. I bet you we could have run the full race on one set of tires… That’s crazy… Please get a softer left-side tire on this car because we’ve got to wear some of the left sides. Right now, it’s all on the right, we’re not even getting anything on the right. These things are just bricks that just keep running the same lap time over and over and over.”

This struggle to bring changes to the sport is fueling Denny Hamlin’s passion, and it is also retaining him in the sport even after two decades.

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The fire burns on for Hamlin

Well, the legacy that Denny Hamlin has laid in NASCAR has been magnificent. Since 2006, the JGR star has appeared every season with a renewed passion for performing. But even after clinching 56 Cup Series race victories and 43 pole awards, there is a lot left on Hamlin’s plate. Firstly, he has yet to fetch his first Cup Series championship – his best result was runner-up in the 2010 season. Then, Hamlin has other duties as the team owner of 23XI Racing.

Currently, the team is battling a legal case against NASCAR along with Front Row Motorsports. So Hamlin is juggling racetrack duties and courtroom responsibilities at the same time. Hence, his energy needs to be unabated at all times. Hamlin is keeping it like that, hoping to churn out good race finishes as well.

When a retirement question popped up, Denny Hamlin proclaimed his intentions to continue to do what he loves most. Instead of cleanly cutting off from the sport like Carl Edwards in 2016, he wishes to be there. He said, “I think that running some at 23XI is something that I’d like to do…You know, I really would like – even if I phased out and ran some there, that would be a cool goal of mine. Just whatever it is. Five races, 25, whatever it might be. It’d be a cool way to phase out instead of just stopping. I think I’d have a tough time just stopping. But I want to be competitive when I do it. I don’t want to do it when I’m passed my prime of winning. However that timing works, that’s how I would like for it to work, but you don’t always get to decide.”

Evidently, Denny Hamlin continues to be dedicated to NASCAR racing. He wishes the best for the sport – even if that means losing his racetrack dominance.