He has had cucumbers thrown at him and now NASCAR’s prominent villain, Denny Hamlin has again had to deal with raunchy fans. This time around it is from his ‘home track’, Richmond Raceway, after he came out on top in a topsy-turvy battle. Hamlin isn’t the one to shy away from the crowd’s animosity toward him and embraced his ‘heel’ persona once again.

Acknowledging the boos and animosity from fans and paying no heed to them, Hamlin understands very well that he won’t be the recipient of the Most Popular Driver Award. Indeed his antics have even drawn the wrath of his home track fans at Richmond Raceway.

Denny Hamlin’s race-winning photo tampered

Somebody tampered with Hamlin’s race-winning photo at Richmond Raceway with ink and drew a false mustache and Chinese-cut beard on his face. This comes after Richmond, which Hamlin calls his ‘home track’, didn’t provide the expected support. However, with the bold persona that Denny Hamlin has, he responded to this behavior with a touch of sarcasm in his post.

He uploaded a video on X where he highlighted the tampered photo and captioned the post, “Stay classy Richmond” with a laughing emoji.

Notably, Hamlin has embraced his villainous persona in the past as well. During the 2023 season, Hamlin’s actions further solidified his transformation into a villain. It was his post-race comment at Bristol that got under the skin of fans. Hamlin said, “I beat your favorite driver… all of them.”

His post on X about his tampered race-winning photo garnered quite a few amusing reactions from the fans.

“Let Denny keep all his teeth,” Fans have hilarious reactions to Hamlin’s tampered photo

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The hilarious video has become a laughing stock for fans since then. A fan reminded him that those were his own people who tinkered with his race-winning photo.

This isn’t the first time Hamlin has been trolled like this by the fans. Earlier this month, in a tire-management battle at Bristol Motor Speedway, the JGR star driver emerged victorious by passing his teammate, Martin Truex Jr, in the final laps. This win marked Hamlin’s fourth victory at the famed short track in Bristol and his 52nd overall victory. As he celebrated his win, some unhappy fans threw cucumbers at him.

But being at his home track, he could have expected some sympathy but not to be. One fan echoed this sentiment and highlighted how big of a villain Hamlin has become to be derided by his home track fans.

The back-and-forth between Hamlin and NASCAR fans is nothing new. Last year after the winning the Xfinity Series win in Darlington, Hamlin posted a few photos on X, where fans in the crowd can be seen flipping him the bird. Hamlin simply captioned the post, “Booooooooooooooooooo.” 

Apart from facing the wrath of fans on the track and having his photo amusingly sketched, fans continued with the trolling online with one fan suggesting that Hamlin got off easy on this occasion.

Despite not winning a championship yet, Hamlin continues to be one of the most talked about NASCAR drivers. He has had a star-studded career and continues to be in the limelight due to his outspoken nature. His love-hate relationship with the NASCAR fans gets attention as evidenced after his tweet. In fact, one user went right for Hamlin’s looks.

Hamlin grew up in Chesterfield County and starred at Hampton’s Langley Speedway in his youth. As such seeing the reaction of the fans at Richmond would be a little surprising to him. He did mark his home track race with the 53rd win of his career but it seems he didn’t win over the fans. Responding to his “classy” jibe, another user shared his view on X.

Despite not gaining overwhelming favor from the fans, Hamlin is enjoying a good season with two wins to his name already. With his win at Richmond, he has moved to the top of the Cup Series standings and will hope to continue his good run of form, which has seen him secure two top 5 finishes as well.

Given how Hamlin likes to get under the skin of the fans, it is likely that this wouldn’t be his last banter with the NASCAR community this season.

Read More: Denny Hamlin Shuns NASCAR’s 20-Year-Old System to Propose a ‘Round of Championship’