Denny Hamlin has always been one of the most outspoken drivers on the Cup Series grid, more so since he got into the broadcasting world with his weekly Actions Detrimental podcast. Never afraid to voice his opinions out in public, no matter how controversial they might be, Hamlin might just have taken a shot at reigning champion Joey Logano recently.
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The 23XI Racing co-owner spoke at length about the importance of winning the regular season championship for a driver in NASCAR’s top tier, a feat one of his drivers from 23XI, Tyler Reddick, achieved last year.
In light of how the postseason ‘Playoffs’ system in stock car racing works nowadays, Hamlin described the regular season championship as one of the most legitimate ways to judge a driver’s consistency throughout a year.
Touching on how the regular season standings, unlike the playoffs, aren’t affected by surprise winners or upsets during the season, he elaborated, “There’s been no flukes, been no accidental winners. It’s the biggest sample size we have in the sport, so that’s why I think it’s the most legitimate.”
While one could take his words at face value, it is difficult to look past how he might be referring to Joey Logano and how the Team Penske driver clinched his third championship last year.
Several things had to fall in place for Logano to clinch the ultimate prize, ranging from Alex Bowman’s disqualification at the Roval, which allowed the No. 22 Ford driver to advance to the next round of the playoffs, to winning his way into the post season in the first place after being pretty much non-existent results wise during the start of the year.
It is difficult to ascertain whether Hamlin was actually referring to Logano. It certainly seems so, at least with how Logano’s upset championship win drew criticism yet again regarding the Playoffs system, and its inability to reward drivers for consistency.
Hamlin would have liked to win the regular season title in 2025, but not at the cost of family time
After skipping the Mexico City race for the birth of his third child with fiancée Jordan Fish, Denny Hamlin also clarified how much weight the regular season title holds, at least for him. He elaborated on this during a pre-race press conference at Dover last weekend, a race that the No. 11 Toyota driver eventually won.
He said, “It’s an accomplishment we all would like to have. Obviously, it didn’t take precedence over the birth of my son. If the regular season was all I cared about, I wouldn’t have missed that race. But family has changed my priorities a little bit on that.”
It remains to be seen if 2025 is the year Hamlin bags his all-elusive championship trophy. After all, he has already racked up four wins till now and looks set for a deep run into the postseason.
