Denny Hamlin Puts Feud With NASCAR’s Partner to Rest as He Backs His ‘Frenemy’ Over Sonoma Disputes

The feud between Marcus Smith and Denny Hamlin pretty much became the prime news for the first week of April. While it all started with the images of Sonoma Raceway track’s areas coming out and the Marcus Smith-owned racetrack was again getting repaired at that point, it quickly got personal following the comment made by Denny Hamlin: “When paving on a budget goes wrong, NWB will be next.“

With Marcus Smith commenting on Hamlin being championship-less and Hamlin commenting on how Smith has gotten everything from his dad, it looked like the feud was going to escalate.

Rather, it turned out to be a heat-of-the-moment conversation, and later both of them realized their mistakes and took ownership of their comments. And now it seems what was a feud back then is nearly nothing now. With the Sonoma race just a few hours away, Denny Hamlin seems to have given rest to his foes now.

Denny Hamlin has given a thumbs-up to the recent fixes at Sonoma Raceway

As the drivers revved up during practice, they scoped out the latest updates, including the new white wall barriers at Turn 11 and the fresh asphalt—changes that are sure to shake things up this year.

After the recent public squabble with Marcus Smith, Hamlin has moved on, focusing on the race ahead. When quizzed about his thoughts on the revamped track, Hamlin shared, “Yeah, I mean, there’s definitely a lot of patches on it, but everything has been pretty smooth. Uh, you know, I hadn’t noticed any part of the track that um you could feel the patches; certainly, you can see them. But you can’t feel them so overall I think um you know it ended up a net um you know pretty good result considering all all the extra work they had to put into it.”

When asked about the durability of Sonoma Raceway’s newly patched track for the entire race weekend, Denny Hamlin expressed some uncertainty but chose not to be cynical in any manner, saying, “I mean I’m not sure about that! Yeah, I’m no expert in it by any means. But uh definitely I think these cars will test it more than any other series that comes here. So, we’ll certainly know we got three hot days in a row, uh you know for this area and you’ve got you big heavy cars.”

It seems like any hard feelings have cooled, and Denny Hamlin is ready to tackle the new challenges of the updated course. Regardless of the track conditions, Hamlin is focused on clinching a win at Sonoma. He’s eager to improve his performance on road courses and sees this race as a key opportunity to step up his game in that area.

#11 aspires to do better at road courses

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Denny Hamlin has always found road courses challenging. Despite nabbing a few pole positions last season, like at the Chicago Street Course, consistency during races has eluded him. On his podcast, Actions Detrimental, he admitted that while he is able to do the mirrored and driving aero-blocking on the ovals, it’s tough on-the-road courses. He asserted, “It’s hard. I can’t do it. There are some that can but I can’t do it well. I have to just concentrate all of my being on what’s in front of me.”

Last year, Hamlin shone in qualifying at road courses, scoring pole positions at places like Sonoma and Chicago. Yet, success during the races has been hard to come by for the #11 team. Just last year at a road course race, Hamlin was taken out in a crash on the front stretch, ending his race prematurely.

Despite these setbacks, Denny Hamlin is determined to turn things around at Sonoma this time. He’s aiming to add to his sole Cup road course victory, which he secured at Watkins Glen back in 2016. So far in the Next Gen car, his best finish on a road course has been a top-10, but he’s looking to vastly improve on his recent P31 and P26 place finishes at Sonoma.