The past couple of days have seen quite a lot of words exchanged between four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin about driver behavior. It all began after Gordon appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and expressed his concern with Hamlin’s approach off the track, saying that behavior like that could be too distracting for his liking.
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Hamlin did not stay quiet, picking up on Gordon’s comments and expressing that the Vice-Chairman of HMS is someone who he would never like to go to war with and claiming that it was a sure way to stunt NASCAR’s growth.
What did Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin actually say
On whether he agrees with the way Hamlin was building up his brand and playing the whole villain role in NASCAR, Gordon claimed that he would never want any Hendrick drivers taking his route as it was too controversial.
“I feel like I want our drivers to go and build a fan base by winning races and by being themselves, but not doing things.”
“Again, I want other guys in the sport to do stuff like that. If they come to Hendrick Motorsports — and you can call us stiff. You can call us whatever you want. But we’re running a business, and a business is to win races first, take care of your sponsors, and let the sponsors market you. Let the sport figure out how to market you,” added Gordon.
Gordon concluded that while it may help Denny personally, he did not think that this sort of behavior is a healthy one within an organization with other drivers and multiple stakeholders involved.
🗣️ “I wouldn’t want that to be one of our drivers. It’s too controversial. To me, it’s a distraction.”
While @JeffGordonWeb respects how Denny Hamlin is building his brand, he doesn’t want any of the @TeamHendrick drivers to do it that way.
More → https://t.co/qesEcbHBRS pic.twitter.com/WAUOuqAWSh
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) October 4, 2023
On his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin responded, “I couldn’t disagree more. I’m glad I drive for Joe Gibbs Racing. I’m glad I run my team the way I run my team because I will never run my team saying things like that. That’s his opinion.”
“He’s allowed to have that opinion but certainly think that is the absolute wrong way to go if you want star power in this sport.”
“That is stunting growth. That is stunting star power.” 🌟
The latest epsiode of Actions Detrimental with @dennyhamlin and @jareddallen is out right now! 👇
Web: https://t.co/zcfkijs2Hx
Apple: https://t.co/0Zzl1EDjm2
Spotify: https://t.co/3vSZqiKWeD pic.twitter.com/PaaQMJuEGl— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) October 9, 2023
Dale Earnhardt Jr. insider Mike Davis feels Denny Hamlin did no wrong
On this week’s Dale Jr. Download, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. himself was not present, the rest of the crew did talk about the Gordon-Hamlin back-and-forth. Dirty Mo Media President and Executive Producer and Dale Jr. Download c0-host Mike Davis expressed that he had absolutely no problem with Hamlin clapping back at Gordon on his podcast.
“I agree with Denny. I want to go on the record that I like it when we defend a driver being true to themselves. I’m not saying I got to agree with them, I’m saying is that there’s Denny’s approach to how to engage with a fan base and then there’s the Jeff Gordon approach,” Davis said.
It will be fascinating to see if Gordon has anything to say in return, but surely this is a feud that gets the conversations growing, a point Denny Hamlin has maintained is good for the sport.
