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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

The man who does not shy away from letting his thoughts be known and calling a spade a spade has struck again. Denny Hamlin is one of the most talented drivers on the grid but he is also unapologetic and fearless. The Joe Gibbs Racing Cup Series title favorite recently took a shot at NASCAR for allegedly putting up a facade at the Texas Motor Speedway ahead of the first round of 12 races in the 2023 Cup Series. On a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin’s revelation left NASCAR red-faced.

The round of 23 race at Texas was a thrilling event that saw a number of cautions and restarts and a thrilling battle to the finish line. After winning the week before at Bristol, Denny Hamlin could not repeat that feat on Sunday as he finished P5 but was the best-performing Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Before the race, however, his interest was piqued by something rather unusual.

Denny Hamlin might just have embarrassed NASCAR

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Ahead of the race, NASCAR fans and drivers were treated to an unusual spectacle. As a promotional campaign for the upcoming movie The Creator, four artificial intelligence robots were brought to the Texas Motor Speedway. From the outside, they did look like robots as the back of their heads appeared to be made out of metal.

However, the ever-curious Denny Hamlin had some questions regarding the robots and it did not take him long to get to the bottom of whether they were actual machines or just regular people in a costume.

 

In the recent Actions Detrimental podcast episode, the driver of the #11 car revealed that the had an insider in Texas who alluded to the latter.

“Breaking news. I have new insider information that they are people in costumes,” Hamlin said, responding to a question posed by his co-host Jared Allen.

However, the 42-year-old was quick to take a safe road and suggest that he was not sure if they actually were robots or people in costumes and that he was just relying on the words of his source in Texas.

“I’m not sure, I’m telling you the source I have says people in costumes. I had this person that’s high up say, I said call them on the way to the airport right after the race. I’m like I gotta settle this debate,” he said.

Hamlin said that he did get a good look at the robots as they were greeting the drivers and while some elements made him believe that they indeed were robots, other elements suggested otherwise.

“I saw the back of their heads and it was metal and air. I saw air where you normally would see skin or organs of a human and I’m like, well they’re certainly not real. Now I did look at the hand of them and on the hand there was a tattoo on kind of like the side palm and the hand did have veins and it was just very, it was interesting,” the JGR star added.

However, robots and artificial intelligence are probably the least of Denny Hamlin’s worries at the moment. With two races to go in the round of 12, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has a job to confirm his place in the round of 8 and he will be faced with a stern test.

Read More – Denny Hamlin Takes to Instagram to Publicly Bash Ty Gibbs’ Brutal Pitlane Error

Hamlin has to overcome his Talladega inconsistency

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Hamlin sits in a comfortable second place on the Cup Series table at the moment, 37 points ahead of the cutline. But his place in the round of 8 has not been secured just yet. The Joe Gibbs Racing title favorite will look to get the job done at the next race but it will be on the ever-challenging asphalt of Talladega.

The driver of the #11 is no stranger to success on the track as he already has two wins to his name. But the last time he won at the superspeedway was three years ago and ever since that victory, his record has been quite inconsistent.

In the last five races, Denny has finished 17th, 5th, 18th, 7th and 32nd at the Talladega Superspeedway. The #11 driver might not be too concerned about his points situation but a poor result would put him perilously close to the drop zone with just the Charlotte Roval left.

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Will Denny Hamlin be able to cement his place in the last 8 at Talladega, or will he be left to do it all at Charlotte? Only time will tell.

Watch Story | Samantha Busch Expresses Surprise at Fans Reaction to Denny Hamlin’s Win Over Kyle Busch