Ty Dillon had a message for all the Denny Hamlin fans out there after beating him in the first round of the NASCAR in-season tournament in Atlanta last Saturday. He ended his post-race interview with TNT by stating, “All you Denny fans out there. I just knocked your favorite driver out.” These fiery words created quite the uproar on social media all week.
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It’s typical Hamlin, who loves riling up fan bases by saying, “I beat your favorite driver.” But Dillon had the opportunity to flip the script, and he made full use of it. Currently in Chicago for the street course race, he was asked if he made the remark spontaneously or if he’d been sleeping on it for a while. It turns out that it was a bit of both.
Dillon said, “It was planned when I knew he was eliminated. When I knew we had him, I told Mamba [Smith] before the interview, ‘Hey, give me a second after this interview, I’ve got something to say.’ So, somewhat spontaneous, I guess you could call it that, but it was there. It was always there, and I just wanted to lean into it a little bit.”
Lean in he did, and the attention that the cheeky remark garnered has been nothing but good for Dillon and his team. He mentioned how fan enthusiasm around him has turned up in Chicago and that he has been getting a lot of comments and calls.
It is these little acts that bring out the personalities of drivers and entertain fans a tad more. Dillon continued to laud Hamlin and NASCAR for creating opportunities where positive trash talk can be brought into the sport.
How did Hamlin take Dillon’s remark?
The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran absolutely loved that Dillon trolled him. He responded to a video of the post-race interview posted by NASCAR on Fox on Instagram by simply writing, “Legend.”
Dillon also revealed how he texted Hamlin after the race ended and clarified that he was just having a bit of fun and did not mean to offend him. To his credit, Hamlin took it in his stride and told Dillon that he had loved it.
“I think we get so focused, as drivers on our own performance, and we beat ourselves up, but we don’t lean into the fact that so much of what we do isn’t just about us,” Dillon added. “It’s about the entertainment level that we provide to our fans.”
For the next round of the in-season tournament, Dillon has been seeded against RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski. Will he defeat the former Cup Series champion in Chicago and move a step closer to the $1 million prize money? The answer will come soon.
