“We Promised Him..” – Denny Hamlin Helps William Byron Steer Clear of Trouble After Co-Host Brings Up Controversial Topic

Earlier this year, there was a bit of a messy situation in NASCAR when it comes to penalties. Drivers like Denny Hamlin were being penalized for saying things on podcasts after the race was over, while teams like Hendrick Motorsports were getting huge penalties amended with their appeals. Even though Hamlin too appealed against the decision by the governing body to penalize him, his appeal didn’t come to much. Whereas, HMS’ appeal was heard and led to the penalty being modified from being a points plus fine penalty to just being a big fine.

So naturally, considering William Byron was recently on Hamlin’s podcast, the very podcast that got him penalized in the first place, this topic was going to find its way into the conversation.

And it did.

Denny Hamlin saves William Byron from trouble on his podcast

At one point during the podcast episode, William Byron was asked by Hamlin’s co-host about a very curious subject, which was certainly a subject too hot for the #24 driver to comment on. That subject was, of course, about penalty appeals.

Hamlin’s co-host, Jared Allen, asked Byron, “Do you have any tips for Denny on how to win an appeal for race manipulation?”

“Oh, well … I don’t know,” Byron replied, completely taken aback by the question and left only with an awkward chuckle.

“Oh, Jared, off the top rope,” Hamlin exclaimed as he burst out in laughter.

“I don’t know man,” Byron added, to which Hamlin clarified, “We promised him we would not get him in trouble.”

Hamlin was left disappointed after his penalty was upheld

Heading into his appeal hearing, Denny Hamlin was pretty hopeful of making a difference in the ruling against him. But that, as we know, didn’t turn out to be the case. Hamlin’s penalty was upheld, and he was naturally quite disappointed.

“I still don’t understand the ruling considering all the data, and all the precedent — even the real data that I brought to the table,” Hamlin said as per Charlotte Observer. “It still doesn’t make sense, which is the disappointing part.”

But the question still remains, what is it that Hendrick did and Hamlin didn’t, which led to different outcomes in their penalty appeals? The answer to that perhaps, only a few know.

Perhaps it’d be better if NASCAR listened to Kevin Harvick’s advice on this, who suggested the appeal hearings be done publicly and live-streamed on NASCAR.com.