Denny Hamlin was one of the first big names from NASCAR who called out the problems with the coming season’s schedule. Right off the bat, Hamlin’s main point of complaint was the two superspeedway races in the playoffs and how it is less of a test of driver’s skills and more of an attempt to manufacture big storylines.
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A few days from that, Hamlin took the mic on his podcast show, Actions Detrimental, and furthered his complaints with NASCAR over the new schedule. This time around, the #11 driver made a note of the ever-increasing races on the schedule and how it has begun to affect him personally.
Denny Hamlin claims his mental health is suffering because of too many races
Speaking on his podcast, Hamlin claimed, “It is become abundantly clear to me we have too many f**king races. We’re trying to jam 38 races into what should be 32 at most.”
The veteran claimed NASCAR won’t go back or consider reducing the races because they make “way too much money per week.” However, it is clear that they now have a scheduling problem because they have “too many weeks” of racing.
“I tell casual people, how long is our season? I say it’s usually from Valentine’s day to the week before Thanksgiving. WHAT?! ‘When do you have off?’ December. Because they start us right up with media first week of January,” Hamlin described.
“The schedule takes its toll on everyone. It’s taken a toll on my mental health, clearly. I’m unwell when I look at the schedule. I haven’t even got into the fact that they’ve added another road course and another superspeedway in the playoffs.”
Hamlin thinks NASCAR is testing the luck of it’s own drivers
While Hamlin complained about the fact that there are too many races on the schedule on his podcast, prior to that he also made a point about the addition of Atlanta in the playoffs. Hamlin claimed he “obviously” doesn’t like the new schedule, adding as per Motorsport, “I think you continue, you know, to make this a game a chance. One of the common quotes that you’ll hear from leadership is that ‘We like to test our drivers.’”
“That’s silly. You’re testing their luck. You’re not testing their skill. We like to cut the sample size smaller and smaller every single year.”
Hamlin backed his point by pointing towards his own teammate, Martin Truex Jr., who got almost knocked out from the first round of the playoffs, despite being the regular season champion. Next year, though, Denny Hamlin thinks the new schedule “should get the job done.”
