Denny Hamlin is the newest villain in NASCAR today. It seems like the JGR driver has become what Kyle Busch once was – an unstoppable force that’s not scared of getting its hands dirty to achieve what it wants. However, Denny Hamlin doesn’t regret it one bit.
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Hamlin’s villain arc started perhaps from the Pocono episode between him and his golf buddy, Kyle Larson. Since then, the 23XI owner has been the egg of numerous spiteful comments. Needless to say, he is not a fan favorite.
In an interview during the NASCAR Awards ceremony, Denny Hamlin accepted the fact that he would never win the Most Popular Driver award.
He laughed saying, “I certainly have resigned to the fact that I’ll never win that one for sure. It’s fun to kinda be the anti-most popular driver. That’s probably what I’ll win 9 times out of 10 for as long as I am in the sport.” Funny story, Denny Hamlin had run-ins with the current Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott, in the Coca-Cola 600 earlier this year.
Denny Hamlin says he knows he'll never win the most popular driver award, but it's been fun being the heel. Says he will win the anti-most popular driver nine times out of 10 for the rest of his career. pic.twitter.com/50psZxMOAY
— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) December 1, 2023
Hamlin said, “I think the two most popular drivers in our series – Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott – I’ve had run-ins with them. I think fans in general won’t let go of those grudges, right? They won’t look past those instances no matter what. I’ve come to accept there’s just a certain amount of it that will just never go away because as they see it, on one given weekend, I did their driver wrong.”
Hamlin sheds light on what has made him the villain that he is today
There was a time when Denny Hamlin used to race Late Models in Virginia that were funded by his own family. However, it wasn’t long before his family nearly went broke. It was then that the late president of Joe Gibbs Racing, J.D. Gibbs, discovered Hamlin’s talent.
J. D. Gibbs gave Hamlin the opportunity to run five truck races and one Xfinity race with their backing in 2004. And it was enough for him to show his potential.
In an interview, Denny Hamlin said, ” “I didn’t have anything handed to me. I had to work really, really hard for it. I worked a blue-collar job just like most everyone else has.”
“I don’t know how many people in the field of NASCAR drivers right now actually had to work fast food or had to work as a welder or a fabricator in their dad’s shop,” he added.
