2024 brings a new NASCAR season, new cars, and new tracks, but the same old Denny Hamlin. Once again at loggerheads with fans after his win in the Busch Light Clash, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver shot his favorite line at the booing crowd: “You know I beat your favorite driver again, right?” But thanks to the intervention of his father, he has now decided to retire the famous taunt.
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Talking about the reaction of fans after his win on Saturday, Hamlin expressed how he’d been confused over the initial positive response he was getting. But the truce did not last for long. In his words, “The initial ovation was cheers! I thought, ‘Alright, heck-yeah!’. It’s a new year! I started talking, and it got a little worse.”
He noted that he hadn’t been saying anything in particular to incite them and that they had a very quick change of heart in just twenty seconds. Continuing to reveal his father’s messages to him in the aftermath of his taunt, he said, “I am gonna retire the ‘I beat all your favorite drivers’ because I got a text… He [Dennis Hamlin] sent me a text, ‘Son, you gotta stop that. I don’t like it. It’s just too cocky.’ And I am going to listen to Dad on this one.”
For those fans who were enjoying his response to the haters, Denny Hamlin did assure that he will come up with something new to throw back at boos.
Denny Hamlin left confused over why fans were booing him at the Coliseum
Talking about the exact moment that the cheers turned to boos, Denny Hamlin said, “I was fine. Me and the fans, we were tight. The cheers, I was feeling them. And all of a sudden, she [Jamie Little] starts wrapping it up [the interview] and I hear this tsunami of boos. It just started coming, and it just kept getting louder. I am like, ‘Ah, I might need to remind these folks once again.”
By winning at the Clash, Denny Hamlin bypassed the likes of Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick to become the second-winningest driver in the pre-season exhibition race. With 4 wins now, he stands second only to Dale Earnhardt who has won the honor a record-six times. Hamlin’s next race will be the prestigious Daytona 500 on February 18.
Already a three-time winner of the event, he will be awaiting the opportunity to set an even higher standard.
