Denny Hamlin Urges NASCAR to Do Something After Major Disgrace, Points to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Project for Inspiration

Just about everyone agrees that the 2023 Truck Series Championship decider was a bad look for NASCAR. Former and current drivers, team owners, and analysts, almost everyone is on the same page on the fact that the finale was nothing short of an embarrassment for the sport. According to Denny Hamlin, NASCAR needs to fix it and fix it soon enough.

After the finale, Hamlin requested NASCAR to take some action if it wanted to push the sport forward. Expressing how the events at Phoenix were not a good look to anyone who was new to the sport, the #11 driver said, “It’s just gotten a little out of hand but it’s, you know, the drivers are doing it. NASCAR’s not doing it, but sometimes you have to adapt to what you’re seeing out there and certainly if you deem that it’s not pushing our sport forward, I think you should do something about it, and I don’t think last night pushed our sport forward.”

Hamlin then brought up the developments made by the CARS Tour, the racing series owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick, in such a short time with respect to stringent on-track behavior and etiquette, with far less limited resources than NASCAR.

“The CARS Tour is making great strides and penalizing drivers for, you know, intentionally wrecking others and if they can do it with the infrastructure they have, I’m not sure why we can’t with all the cameras and officials that we have, you know do something about it,” added the 23XI Racing owner.

The three-time Daytona 500 winner also pointed out that there was absolutely no mention of the events in the drivers’ meeting ahead of the Cup Series race.

Kyle Busch feels the lack of respect is not just a Truck Series problem

Kyle Busch, who recently sold off his Truck Series team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, to Spire Motorsports, was not too pleased with the events of the race. The two-time Cup champion went a step further, saying how the disrespect is an issue that plagues NASCAR as a whole, and not just restricted to the Truck Series.

“Well the problem is that it is Friday, Saturday, Sunday now. I mean, there is no respect whatsoever so, everybody runs over everybody, tears up equipment, so I’m glad I am not an owner of it,” Busch said.

It is indeed important for NASCAR to address the Truck Series finale fallout if it wants to further its goal of expanding the sport into new territories and to new fans and involving drivers like Hamlin and Busch might just be the best first step at this point.