Denny Hamlin Left Panicking for a Moment After Witnessing Travis Scott’s “Wackier” Fandom at Charlotte

Tunnels, mosh pits, and raging flames! When Denny Hamlin took a fan vote to pick an outfit for popular rapper Travis Scott’s concert, he was not prepared for the enthralling experience. Hamlin was spellbound by the stunning production design and infectious fan enthusiasm.

However, a highly charged arena holding thousands of people can go from spectacular to spine-tingling in a fraction of a second. Denny Hamlin experienced it live at Scott’s first Charlotte concert in almost five years.

Denny Hamlin was apprehensive with mosh pantomime in Travis Scott’s ‘Circus’

After qualifying in the Round of 8 with the playoff race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver stayed back in the Queen City to unwind with Travis Scott. Charlotte was the opening ground for the rapper’s Utopia Circus Maximum tour this year. With a seating capacity of around 20,000 people, Charlotte’s Spectrum Center quickly sold out when the announcement was made in August. The eight-time Grammy Award nominee opened with an electrifying performance of ‘HYAENA’ with flames shooting around him.

Unfortunately, Scott’s concerts are known just as much for crowd peril as they are for extravagant set designs. The 80s culture of mosh pits is a staple of the rapper’s energetic hip-hop shows. Without sufficient safety measures, the rambunctious pit can easily become deadly for the horde of diehard fans. Scott’s Astroworld concert became a tragic reminder of the permanent outcome of a fleeting moment of thrill. Thankfully, the situation did not worsen to Houston’s level two years ago. Nevertheless, Denny Hamlin was definitely concerned for some of the people in precarious positions of getting injured.

In his podcast Actions Detrimental, Hamlin expressed those underlying fears. “I went out with a bunch of friends to Travis Scott. It was his first concert tour date, and it was in Charlotte. They had mosh pits, it was huge, it was crazy. I couldn’t believe- we were 2nd row in the lower level. Thank god I didn’t buy floor seats! They’re not seats, by the way, it’s a mosh pit. So there’s just people going crazy in there. That’s the first time I have seen a mosh pit in person. Everyone, while banging into each other and pushing it, like they were still friendly. That’s when I got a little worried, like somebody is going to get down to the ground, nobody is going to notice.”

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Aside from his misgivings about the mosh pit, the #11 driver felt he blended in well sporting a fire suit.

Hamlin borrowed 23XI Racing’s fire suit for Travis Scott’s flaming show

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In order to make his first mosh pit concert even more exciting, Denny Hamlin gathered the most unusual clothes in his collection and asked his fans to choose his final outfit. Among the options was his 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick’s fire suit from the race in Bristol. Unsurprisingly, the fire suit won and fans couldn’t wait to see their favorite racer at Travis Scott’s performance wearing NASCAR gear.

Talking about his quirky ensemble, Hamlin humorously recalled, “I did get asked a few times, ‘Are you hot? I’m in a car that is a 125-130, no I’m good here’. So it was fun. The mosh pits were awesome to watch. I mean crowd surfing. There was this guy in a doctor’s scrubs. People, that’s why we wore these. People wear very outlandish things to this concert. It’s almost, it’s like a Halloween concert but Travis Scott apparel. It’s just the wackier, the more normal.”

The racing star concluded with an enthusiastic endorsement of the spectacle despite technical glitches. “It was cool! Encourage you all to go, he put on a great show. It was the first- he definitely had some hiccups in the show where his stage person would come out in the middle of song and he talked to him and they’re working out some kinks for sure. But I thought it was great.” Hamlin was clearly energized with this mid-playoff escapade and his fans would be just as eager to catch the next available show. 

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