NASCAR is no less in shambles now than it was when the 2024 racing season began. The incomplete charter negotiations, Stewart-Haas Racing’s announcement that it will cease to exist at the end of the season, and Kyle Larson’s playoff waiver drama are all elements of a bigger chaos. With the deep gray clouds causing much reason for worry, Denny Hamlin has once again pointed the finger at NASCAR.
Advertisement
The Joe Gibbs Racing star believes that the abnormal delay that preceded NASCAR approving Larson’s playoff waiver request and the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing both come down to the superiority complex of the sanctioning body. He said on the latest episode of Actions Detrimental that NASCAR wrongly believes that its show will go on with or without particular drivers or teams.
His words went, “There is someone in NASCAR headquarters that doesn’t like being second fiddle and believes if you’re going to be over here, you need to be over here, and you’re ours now. So when he [Larson] chose Indianapolis over the Coke 600, that person got very offended and you just never know what they’ll decide to do or the choice they’ll make.”
He continued to note how it wouldn’t be surprising if NASCAR made up a rule to allow Larson to remain in contention for the championship but stripped him of all the playoff points that he’d earned that far. Of course, the promotion announced after the episode aired that Larson would be allowed to race for the championship while retaining his playoff points. But Hamlin’s contention isn’t nullified by that.
How NASCAR’s dictator approach could’ve resulted in Stewart-Haas Racing deciding to split
Hamlin continues to pitch the idea that NASCAR is mistaken in its thought that it will be able to put on a good show regardless of which driver or team exits the field. He believes that the sport is not what it used to be and that the promotion needs to be careful about its “superior” mentality. “That is a very dangerous way to think because these teams and drivers are the show,” he said.
Talking about the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing he contended that the reluctance of NASCAR in sharing a fairer share of its revenue from media and other venues with its team would have forced the team’s owners to call it quits. “I just think Tony Stewart and Gene Haas are done with the headache of NASCAR. And the headache of being in it,” he concluded.
