Denny Hamlin Publicly Accepts Defeat as Underdog Veteran Proves Him Wrong at Chase Elliott’s Expense

The world of NASCAR is no stranger to friendly rivalries and bold predictions. And the recent banter between Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell added a new layer of excitement. Before the Michigan race, Denny Hamlin made a confident assertion that Chase Elliott would secure a playoff spot based solely on points, going against the prevailing belief that a win was necessary. Little did he know that this prediction would take center stage and eventually lead to an unexpected outcome.

Michael McDowell, who was among the drivers Denny Hamlin predicted would lose out to Elliott, took it up to Joe Gibbs Racing and challenged that he wasn’t right. This quickly became a topic of interest in the community. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the upcoming road courses. Hamlin took a big hit with his predictions after the Hendrick Motorsports driver scored just 1 point in Michigan as he retired from the race.

A bold prediction that came back to bite Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin boldly predicted that Chase Elliott’s road course prowess would propel him into the playoffs on points alone. During the conversation with his co-host Jared Allen on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin challenged the idea that Elliott couldn’t make up a 40-point deficit against McDowell in the upcoming four races. The banter escalated when Allen countered, highlighting that McDowell was strong on road courses too.

“Breaking News, Chase Elliott is going to make it, and he’s going to make it on points,” Hamlin predicted ahead of Michigan.

“Chase Elliott is minus 40 with 4 races to go. You’re telling me he can’t make up 40 points in four races?” Hamlin promptly asked his co-host.

“He’s racing that guy that you’re talking about [Bubba Wallace] who’s had a couple of good weeks. And Michael McDowell for that cutline though,” Allen responded. “I understand. The #17, #18, and #19 guy does not matter for Chase, he’s racing the cutline, right? So he’s racing McDowell and Bubba.” he continued.

“So you’re saying that Chase Elliott can’t make up 40 points on McDowell in the next 4 races!” Hamlin exclaimed with conviction.

“I’m not saying he can’t, but McDowell’s strong, [his] three strongest tracks or you know two road courses and a Superspeedway are coming up,” Allen replied.

“Breaking News: Chase Elliott’s good on f****** Road Courses, what are you talking about!” Hamlin asserted.

When this clip caught the attention of McDowell, he challenged Hamlin to compare total points scored on road courses with the Next Gen car and implied that Front Row Motorsports had a good chance at road courses. To this, Hamlin responded by asking McDowell to prove him wrong and McDowell responded that he was planning to do just that.

And did he do that in style! He held off a charging Chase Elliott for more than 30 laps to win the Indianapolis Road Course race. What’s interesting is that Elliott has finished just behind McDowell in both of his victories in NASCAR. Proven wrong on both accounts of Elliott making it on points alone and Elliott being better at road courses, Hamlin took it to Twitter after Indianapolis and humbly accepted that he lost the race as well as the bet to the proud #34 driver.

READ MORE: Denny Hamlin Claims Championship-Winning Decision Forced Him & Michael Jordan to Be Distant From Joe Gibbs

However, McDowell opened up on this whole situation with Hamlin in a post-race conference at Indianapolis and explained his reasons for challenging Hamlin in the first place.

A triumphant Michael McDowell explains why he challenged Hamlin

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During the post-race winners’ press conference, Michael McDowell took the opportunity to address the lighthearted wager between him and Denny Hamlin. McDowell explained that his response to Hamlin’s prediction was based on statistics and a belief in his own abilities.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t get on there (Twitter) a lot. And I typically don’t let things bother me much… But what he put out there was just inaccurate. Chase Elliott is the best road racer in the Cup series. We know that right now, he has the most wins,” said McDowell.

“So you can’t statistically say that he’s not the best. He is the best, right? And that was not a dig at Chase,” he added. “All I was doing is looking at the stats. He’s not going to gain 40 points on us on the road courses. Now he could win. I would agree with him on that he can win for sure which, obviously, he was close today.

“But I felt like if we just go out there and do what we do on the road course and we’re gonna run fifth in each stage. We’re gonna finish fifth in the race and he’s maybe going to gain 5-7-8 points, right? There’s no way he’s going to make up 40 to us on the road courses. So that’s all I was saying.” 

In the end, McDowell also candidly suggested to Hamlin that he should invite him on Actions Detrimental to discuss this whole situation.

Watch This Story | Denny Hamlin Obstinately Accepts His Drivers Rant

Do you think Hamlin’s next podcast episode should feature McDowell? Share your thoughts in the comments below.