“That’d Be My Curtain Call”: Denny Hamlin Deems NASCAR Xfinity Series “A No-Win Situation”

While on the one hand, Denny Hamlin revealed the news of his contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, on the other hand, he delivered a sad update on his Xfinity career. According to the #11 driver, his win at Darlington last Saturday in the Xfinity race was probably the last time he drove in that division.

Hamlin explained why he might have run his final race in the Xfinity Series. Along with that, the veteran also argued why racing in that division doesn’t make sense for Cup Series drivers.

Denny Hamlin believes Cup drivers running in Xfinity is a ‘no-win situation’

During a recent episode of his podcast show, Hamlin opened up on the “no-win situation,” which is a Cup driver running in Xfinity to gain an advantage over their competition by getting used to a track. “There’s only one thing that can come out of me running Darlington or really any other Cup driver running an Xfinity race, and that is, it can only end up in a worse look because people expect you to win,” Hamlin said.

“You’re going down to Xfinity, you got all this experience, well, you’re supposed to win. So when you win, it’s like, ‘Meh.’ Not a big deal. But if you lose it’s like, ‘Oh, you’re not as good as you thought.’ It is a kind of a no-win situation.”

“It really puts pressure on you absolutely to go down there and win if you’re gonna do it.”

Hamlin has no ambitions as Kyle Busch for the Xfinity Series

Having revealed his thoughts on the pressure of running in the 2nd division of NASCAR, Denny Hamlin claimed that he was unsure if he would race on Saturdays again. “I don’t know whether I’ll do it again now,” he said.

“I feel like this is a good time. That’d be my curtain call to Xfinity. Not like Kyle Busch, who’s like, ‘Once I win a 100, I’ll stop.’ No, I’m just happy. There is no benefit to running Xfinity to help Cup. They do not relate one bit. It’s a completely different car, drives completely different, the tyres are dramatically different, the shifting is different, there’s nothing that I can really draw from it that helps.”

With that said, Hamlin claimed that he would like to end his Xfinity career with a checkered flag.

And with his Cup career also secured with JGR, perhaps Hamlin will be able to give his 100% attention and talent as a driver to winning the one thing that has evaded him throughout his career, the NASCAR Cup Series championship.