“Big Names Would Tarnish Their Legacy”- Denny Hamlin Discloses Why NASCAR Wouldn’t Support More Transparency

Sweet owing to the massive success, sour due to the constant controversies—that’s how NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season has been so far. Treating fans to racing spectacles at Le Mans and then at the Chicago Street Course, the motorsport organization also faced severe backlash for its controversial and inconsistent decisions.

With the 2023 season slowly inching toward its conclusion, NASCAR once again faced the brunt of the racing community’s wrath, owing to the 2024 Class Hall of Fame developments. Speaking out on the issue, Denny Hamlin recently disclosed why NASCAR wouldn’t support more transparency.

Denny Hamlin is “Fighting for what’s right”

Tying himself with the likes of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as NASCAR’s Superman, Jimmie Johnson is the only modern-era driver to have collected seven Cup Series championship titles. Inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame for the Class of 2024, Johnson secured 53 of the 57 ballot votes. Facing the same fate that once befell Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson fell short of a unanimous decision. With his induction becoming a highly debated topic, all factions of the racing community united to bash NASCAR’s HoF voting panel for not giving Johnson a unanimous vote. Ashamed by the developments, Denny Hamlin had earlier put out a tweet, calling the decision a disgrace.

Back in the studio after the 2023 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan, Hamlin on his Action Detrimental podcast had a lot to say regarding the HoF drama. “He is on the ballot, so then your job is to be the juror. Should he be in? Yes or no. And there’s absolutely zero reason that Jimmie Johnson should be left off anyone’s ballot,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said.

Iterating how the fight against the lack of a unanimous decision was justified, he further added, “I just would like to see NASCAR revamp how they do it going forward, because you know Jimmie would never tell you he’s displeased with not being unanimous. He won’t; he’s just that kind of guy. But he deserves to have people fighting for him and fighting for what’s right.”

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Cementing his stance on the HoF drama, Denny Hamlin then revealed why NASCAR refrained from being more transparent.

Denny Hamlin’s major NASCAR revelation

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While the backlash surrounding the voting panel’s Hall of Fame decision has been severe, NASCAR has remained unusually quiet. Many in the racing community even cited the fact that NASCAR should publicly reveal the four jury members who withheld their votes against Jimmie Johnson, but to no avail. Clearing the air on why NASCAR is tight-lipped, the #11 JGR driver made a huge revelation.

Further on his podcast, Hamlin said, “It just seems like there’s people in that room that shouldn’t be in that room. And you know what? More than likely if NASCAR was transparent and showed who didn’t vote (for Jimmie Johnson), there’d be some big names that would tarnish their own legacy if it wasn’t unanimous.” 

“Because there are big names in our sport, obviously they are in that room. And I can guarantee you they don’t wanna make it public, ’cause if it was public, they wouldn’t have left him off the ballot. They did it because it was anonymous and they can hide behind it,” Denny Hamlin revealed.

Read More: Denny Hamlin Exposes “Politics” and “Petty” Behavior in the Sport With Jimmie Johnson HoF Injustice

With the JGR driver revealing the reason behind the non-transparency stance of NASCAR, will the motorsport organization make changes to its anonymous voting system?