Denny Hamlin Adamant to Work on this Dejected “Revenue Generator” Despite Recent Backlash

Ever since North Wilkesboro’s revival, another NASCAR track is waiting to redeem itself. While Denny Hamlin’s hometown race at Richmond might be knocked down to one race per season, the prospect of the Southside Speedway returning with new ownership couldn’t be more exciting for the 23XI co-owner. Fresh after building his team’s new workshop, the ‘Airspeed’, the 43-year-old has now set his sights on perhaps restoring the famed short track. With that said, Denny Hamlin was also realistic about the hurdles that lie ahead of its return.

Denny Hamlin eyeballs the resurrection of his childhood track

As one of NASCAR’s oldest short tracks, Southside Speedway bore witness to legends such as Richard Petty and Junior Johnson in the golden era. With that said, the speedway had begun to rust after the 2010s owing to a lack of funding and maintenance. That was until the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority committed to restoring the track for over $4.5 million back in 2021.

But that wasn’t all. For the longest time, Denny Hamlin had his eyes set on purchasing his home track in Virginia, where he had debuted in mini-stock car racing back in the day. While Hamlin didn’t have his foot in the door back then, it could all change now that the property is under new management. Earlier, the 23XI Racing co-owner had also shared that he would only be willing to ‘run’ the operation at Southside Speedway if he could purchase it.

Now that it could become an option in the future, Hamlin shared his motives with Dale Earnhardt Junior. Reflecting on whether he would be interested in helping bring back glory to the aging short track, the #11 driver stated, “100%, it’s just, where am I gonna get the funding to do it? That’s the challenge. I mean, I’ve had Zoom calls with different legislators with both the County and the State on trying to figure out the best way to approach this. But certainly, from a tourism perspective, it is absolutely a revenue generator.”

However, it wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows. After all, Denny Hamlin would need to put in major sweat and money into restoring the track to a suitable Cup Series venue. Naturally, the return on investment may be hard to justify. Hamlin concluded, “But how do you quantify it? That’s the tough part about it. It’s a short track that is sitting in there right now. It’s got the land. It really needs to be revamped in a big kind of way and needs a few million dollars worth of true work done to it, to revive it.”

Whilst it’s safe to say Denny Hamlin is fairly eager to get his hands on the track that gave him his start in racing, the 23XI Racing co-owner revealed an unsettling reality that fans will need to embrace.

Obstacles standing in Hamlin’s way of taking the lead in Southside revival

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For Denny Hamlin, Southside Speedway is just another home. He got his start in the mini-stock division in 1997 and has since competed in various events at the track in Midlothian, Virginia. Naturally, Hamlin was one of the most vocal critics of the track’s closure, hoping to play a role in its revival one day. With that said, as a team owner, Denny Hamlin is also aware of the issues that need to be addressed for such a venture to be profitable and worth his time.

Continuing with his conversation on the Dale Jr Download, Hamlin shared his realistic outlook: “I’d love to do it because it’s such a great area if you look at our television audience, week-in week-out, Richmond is always one of the highest. So you have people that are very interested in short-track racing in that area. It’s a matter of who pays for it. I told them I was okay with running, I’d love to run it and help them bring some different touring series there if I could. But it’s going to come down to whether they deem that property is valuable as much as we racers do.“

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For a track that has already brought in $4.5 million, another few million for upgrades could be an enticing proposition if it works out. But if it doesn’t, Hamlin could find himself with a major financial mess to clean up. With that said, do you think South Side Speedway is truly going to return soon? And will Denny Hamlin be the one leading the charge?