“I’d Like To”: Denny Hamlin Open to Expanding NASCAR Ownership Portfolio

The Southside Speedway is the training ground that created Denny Hamlin to be the racing hero that he is today. He spent many days as a child watching races at the 0.3-mile track and raced on it for years when he was older. Since 2020, this significant track near Richmond has been closed for racing and attempts are continually being made to revive it. Amongst those interested in these efforts is Hamlin.

The Joe Gibbs Racing superstar has had his eyes on getting an ownership stake in the race track and running events on it for a while now. Talking to the press in Richmond last Sunday, he reiterated his interest once again. He said, “I would love to be a part of it. I think those are bigger conversations for the state and the county as to how much they’re willing to invest.”

Hamlin’s perception of the matter is that the state or Chesterfield County (which owns the Speedway), will have to make significant financial contributions to upgrade the short track and put it on par with other racing venues in the country. As far as investing his own money goes, he believes that it would be hard for him to get returns without transforming the Speedway into a multi-use facility.

Denny Hamlin has a genuine interest in operating or owning his childhood track, Southside Speedway. @dennyhamlin X @JoeGibbsRacing pic.twitter.com/VJebM4smp5

— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) April 1, 2024

“You can’t just rely on racing one night a week and that place being able to survive,” he said. “You have got to have go-karts there, you’ve got to have concerts there, you’ve got to have all kinds of different stuff that people can do.” That said, Hamlin does believe that the region surrounding the track has grown into an untapped market. From his point of view, the level of his contribution is something that depends on the contributions of the state and the county.

Why Hamlin wants to own the Southside Speedway and not just run it

Hamlin’s name has been hit around talks of the Speedway’s ownership share since last year. He told NBC Sports in September 2023 that he would be interested in running races on the track only if he was an owner of it. “I would love to run it, but I would love to run something that I owned. We would have to work around that for sure. The county does own it, but if I’m going to put a bunch of time and effort and all that, I would like to have some stake in the facility,” he clarified.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has volunteered to help Hamlin in this project by bringing the CARS Tour to the Speedway twice a year if things fall in place. The next move will have to be from Chesterfield County, as Hamlin said on Sunday.