Shortly after the 2023 NASCAR Cup season came to a close, Denny Hamlin, who had failed in his quest to win the elusive championship once again, underwent surgery on his shoulder. But now as we’re standing on the doorstep of the 2024 Cup season, it’s worth wondering whether Hamlin can recover or has recovered in time. Will the veteran driver be his 100% when the season starts in Daytona?
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The answer is yes, and no. Or rather, mostly yes and somewhat no.
This was a subject, his recovery time, which Hamlin opened up on during the recent episode of his podcast show, Actions Detrimental. “It’s going to be six months before I’m like really, really good. I’m in the sim now. We’re slowly working reps into it,” he said.
“I think the Clash is actually a good warm-up because it’s just short enough and God knows we can’t have any green flag racing there so I think it’ll be a good warmup and I’ll be stronger when we get to Daytona.”
Hamlin claimed his shoulder is now “good,” as he emphasized on the fact that it is better than it was when last season ended. “Last season, was a absolute nightmare,” he added.
How’s @dennyhamlin‘s shoulder rehab going? ⚕️ pic.twitter.com/JIGn2NAWwy
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) February 2, 2024
Why Denny Hamlin didn’t make his shoulder woes public in 2023
As the Netflix docu-series proved, Denny Hamlin was going through a lot of pain, particularly towards the final stretch of last season because of his shoulder. And yet, someone as outspoken as him decided to not reveal the physical pain he was enduring. And this was for a good reason.
“A lot of it is ego-driven, like I don’t want to create any excuse,” he said. “There’s nothing I could’ve done about it. This is something I put off and I put it off so late that I ended up doing major, major damage to it.”
Hamlin once again insisted that he didn’t want his shoulder issues to be “an excuse whatsoever.” The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran added that he didn’t make it to the final 4 for several other reasons apart from his shoulder issues.
