Denny Hamlin won at Bristol and yet again received an array of mixed reactions from the crowd. While some raised the expletive finger at him, others cheered for the number 11 Toyota Camry pilot. And Denny Hamlin does not care about all the booing. Like he did not care after his 50th career win at Pocono. Perhaps Denny Hamlin is way into his villain role.

That villain role has not made him that much of a fan favorite. But he does not care a lot about that either. With about six or seven years left in his career as a driver, he focuses solely on fulfilling his personal goals. He has no intention to win the Most Popular Driver award. But it has surely ordained him with a dose of popularity as NASCAR’s bad boy. However, is he the Championship favorite yet?

Denny Hamlin has always fallen short of that elusive win but is looking for a change

In his 18 years of driving the #11 car at Joe Gibbs Racing, Denny Hamlin has bagged 51 wins. These include victories in the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, three Daytona 500 wins in 2016, 2019, and 2020, and three Southern 500s in 2010, 2017, and 2021. Besides these, he also has 18 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins and 2 Craftsman Truck Series victories to his credit.

But when it comes to the Cup Series championship, his best contention has been a runner-up position behind Jimmie Johnson back in 2010. Looking at the above statistics, one might wonder whether Denny Hamlin is even a championship-favorite driver.

After winning the concluding race of the first playoff round at Bristol, Denny Hamlin addressed that question. He said, ” I don’t think I’ve been any better. I don’t think our team has been any better. At our best, I know that we’re good enough.”

After all, the entire NASCAR Cup Series playoff format gives the greatest importance to the Championship 4 race. Every other race is a step to move up the ladder using sheer strategy. Crew chief Chris Gabehart agreed saying, “Yeah, I mean, ‘championship favorite’ is a term that I think loses its meaning.”

Rather than being a Championship favorite, Chris Gabehart felt like the number 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team was a final-round favorite. Even Denny Hamlin admitted he did not see Phoenix on his Championship bucket list as of now. After all, there are a lot of unknowns between Texas Motor Speedway and the finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Watch this story: Fans Demand Denny Hamlin’s Suspension After Bitter Alex Bowman Comments

“But, yeah, we’re executing at a super high level. We have all the pieces put together to do it. Certainly why not us,” added Gabehart.

Despite boos, the 23XI owner has his secret weapon ready

Trending

Reality Struck Shane van Gisbergen Has His Playoffs Chances Cut Short Even Before His Full Time Debut in 2025

NASCAR Fans Left Praying as Town of the “World’s Fastest 1/2 Mile” Declared a Site of “Mass Casualty”

NASCAR Fans Back Kyle Busch’s Son’s Desperate Plea Amidst Denny Hamlin’s ‘Bad Luck’ Reluctance

“My Body Needed Time”: Tony Stewart’s Wife, Leah, Discloses Her Roadblocks to Motherhood Amid Racing Dilemma

Cole Custer Drops 5-Word Confession as He Hands Tony Stewart & Co Another Championship Crown

Denny Hamlin defeated HMS icon Kyle Larson by 2.437 seconds in the closing race of this round to advance to the round of 12 that opens next week. When Joe Gibbs Racing tweeted, “No issues in post-race inspection at @ItsBristolBaby! @dennyhamlin’s victory is official!”, fans did not pull any punches in launching mean comments at Joe Gibbs’ racer.

A hater said, “Sure there wasn’t… A Hendrick car finished 2nd so of course they’re not going to find anything wrong because then HMS would get their well-deserved 300th win on a DQ. Typical for NASCAR.”

“Of Course He Doesn’t Fail Inspection. He Basically Runs The Sport, Because Friday He Said “Nascar Needs To Add More PJ1 To The Track” And What Does Nascar Do Saturday? They Add More PJ1,” said another.

A group of haters felt like NASCAR did not even do a post-race inspection for Denny Hamlin. On that note, one commented, “Wow what a surprise… was a post race inspection done at all ? 🤔🤔”

Someone breathed sarcasm saying, “Of course there’s no issues You turn the blind eye You don’t want to disqualify a playoff car or Joe Gibbs cars. There’s no way that jgr can be that good without cheating And it’s your f****** fault that the race f****** sucked as it is Because you’re too f****** stupid to fix”

Another one stated blatantly, “Hamlin is the biggest hypocritical contradicting fake petty crybaby POS in NASCAR! A complete Douchy a****le! Even after Pocono when he made himself look very hypocritical contradicting & lying everybody called him out on it on TV, his pos ignorant fans are just as bad as him”

But Denny Hamlin was not bothered even a bit. During the post-race presser, he revealed his plans to tackle his haters, as there were so many. He picked up the shiny sword that came with his Saturday night trophy and declared, “(I’ll) jam them in the gut (if) they come close to me.”

Read more: Denny Hamlin Gets Philosophical With a 9-Worded Witty Comment About His Haters