As the 2024 season was about to kick off with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, Denny Hamlin wasn’t sure if he could even race in the unofficial season opener. The perennial championship contender had only recently undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder to address a bone spur in the off-season. A certain Dr. Patrick Connor successfully performed the procedure at Charlotte Surgery Center. But a definitive timeline on Denny’s shoulder recovery was anybody’s guess early into the year.

Regardless, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver shunned many of his naysayers at the Clash when he went from pole to P1 inside his assumed rehab period in California. He did himself a few better when he registered three wins and a playoff berth, long before the Richmond fall race last Sunday.

And after getting wrecked in a manner that was all too familiar for Denny Hamlin, his shoulder issues appear to have resurfaced. Although the man himself believes it won’t be a problem in his pursuit of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship heading into Michigan.

Shoulder woes resurface for Denny Hamlin after Richmond wreck

Denny Hamlin was mere inches from another Richmond victory, approaching the start-finish line in overtime. But in his way was a desperate Austin Dillon, ready to do whatever it took to mark his number in the 2024 playoffs. First, Dillon drove through Joey Logano’s bumper to clear a path for his first Victory Lane visit in almost exactly two years. Then, the #3 car right rear-hooked the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, sneaking up on the inside to steal his race from under his nose.

What came next was a “32-G spike in the wall off of turn four, coming to the checkered flag.” It was the “highest ever recorded” in a JGR Toyota, per crew chief Chris Gabehart’s admissions on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. On the general spectator’s TV screen, the wreck looked equally crunching, as the No. 11 car shot up the racetrack and collided hard with the outside barriers on the backstretch. In his post-race disclosures, Denny Hamlin revealed the impact had blown his “damn shoulder out” once again.

Thankfully, the JGR driver did not have to walk away with a major injury. However, the issue surrounding his shoulder troubles at Richmond Raceway made its way over to Michigan, thanks to a question by Dustin Long of NBC during the pre-race presser on Saturday.

The journalist asked Hamlin, “You talked about the shoulder after the race. I know you’ve had all sorts of work done in the past. I know it’s (might) never be 100%. But how was the shoulder, or what was your condition after that contact?” To which Hamlin replied, “Yeah… my whole right side really just took, you know, the hit. When you look at kind of how these Next-Gen cars take crashes really the flat side impact is kind of the worst thing that you can have. Because there is no crush. There’s no crush to have there. Actually would have been better off to nose it head-on, or back it in, because we have the softer bumpers and whatnot now.”

Raising further questions about the Generation 7 car’s safety and quality, Denny Hamlin recalled a similar dangerous crash he experienced during the rain-postponed 2022 Daytona fall race. “It was very similar in how it felt to the Daytona rain crash where I was in the lead. tank slapped it, and hit it flat on the right side, and it hurt my right side in that one as well. So it’s just it was just a really weird circumstance and honestly, you know just going 100 miles an hour still can, you know, result in a really hard hit,” opined Denny Hamlin.

After all, the near-two-decade veteran is no stranger to hard knocks, and this incident at Daytona was only an example of the treacherous waters that stock car racers tread weekly.

To follow up on Dustin Long’s initial inquiry, Lee Spencer of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio asked Hamlin, “Do you think that the injury to your shoulder will affect your chances to win the championship this year?” Ever-confident Denny Hamlin answered the question with a stern refusal. “No, because I had some internal stuff that just needed to get repaired and finally now it is repaired,” explained the 43-year-old Chesterfield native.

But Hamlin also had quite a heartbreaking picture to paint: “Even though it’s been eight months or nine months or so since surgery… rotator cuffs take forever you know. And I’m not as young as I used to be. So I don’t recover quite as quick as I used to. But no, it’s one of those things where last year I was just kept making an injury worse and worse and worse by continuing to race, and this year, it’s getting better each week.” As Lee Spencer probed Hamlin on whether he still felt good about his chances for the Bill France Cup in 2024, the man who fell short of its glory for 18 full-time seasons agreed with a simple nod followed by a resolute “Yes!”

A look back at his long list of injuries

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Most must know by now that Denny Hamlin has suffered his decent share of setbacks pursuing that coveted Cup Series championship for so long. The fresh-faced JGR rookie in his early 20s has witnessed almost everything one can witness in the high-octane world of stock car racing, barring the ultimate prize. From owning a successfully growing NASCAR team in partnership with NBA Legend Michael Jordan to becoming one of the most recognizable voices with weekly appearances on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin has made himself a true icon of the sport.

55 race wins in NASCAR’s highest echelon, without a championship? Truly, he has seen it all, if we must say so ourselves. But the toll this chase has put on Hamlin’s body is unmistakable through his list of injuries that date back to over a decade ago. In 2010, he blew out the ACL in his left knee from a basketball accident.

Fast forward to 2013, a last-lap wreck at Auto Club Speedway left him with a busted back. Denny Hamlin did not require any surgery. But he ended up missing six straight weeks of on-track action. Then, in 2015, the ACL on his other knee went out. He also fixed a separate “genetic” growth spurt on his left shoulder in 2019.

A few years later, in 2023, this tough-as-nails Virginia native went through the absolute wringer. After finding himself a part of some spectacular wrecks, the growth spurt on his other shoulder checked out during the off-season in November. As he told Kelly Crandall of RACER.com post-surgery,

Chase Elliott turned Hamlin into the wall at Vegas on the straightaway after a few brush-ups earlier in the race. The fallout from this incident caused Hamlin a lot of physical discomfort. However, it is quite ironic that Chase Elliott also underwent surgery that off-season for a torn labrum. Regardless, all these instances only helped grow the legend of Denny Hamlin. And rolling off the grid in P1 for the 2024 Firekeepers Casino 400, this future Hall of Famer will certainly have a few names on his list.