Denny Hamlin Raises Concern That NASCAR’s Le Mans Announcement Could Hand Hendrick Motorsports an Advantage

Earlier this month, NASCAR dropped a massive bombshell that nobody saw coming. As it turns out, the Hendrick Motorsports team will field a modified Next Gen Chevrolet in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Many reacted positively to the news, as this was a big moment for NASCAR. However, Denny Hamlin had a much different reaction to the startling announcement.

According to him, the news was ‘interesting’ to say the least. Later on, he admitted that Toyota was pretty much caught unaware by the announcement. He insisted that they did not appreciate finding out about this during the official press conference. Hamlin said, “Finding out through a press conference is not okay. We have too many people in place. NASCAR has too many executives for that to have slipped through the cracks. Not that it slipped through the cracks, but where’s the transparency of it?”

Denny Hamlin did not like that just one team is heading the operation

Admittedly, Hamlin would have been much happier if all three manufacturers were involved in the project. As per his reasoning, Chevrolet practically blindsided Toyota and Ford with the announcement. He also felt that Hendrick Motorsports would have an unfair advantage with the Next Gen car. So far this season, Chevrolet has won four of the opening six races, with Hendrick contributing three of them.

He continued, “There’s certainly some performance advantages that everybody is going to be concerned with. Short of us being allowed to have the same track time. I do not see any way possible that they will not have an advantage. Hendrick is a team that already has won more races than anyone this season with the Next Gen.”

The #11 driver’s ideal solution would be to have three drivers each representing one manufacturer. He understood NASCAR’s reasoning since HMS is the most successful team in history. However, as a team owner, he is afraid of how much of an advantage this hands Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports. In essence, the team will be piloting the Next Gen car, thus allowing them more time to unlock the car’s secrets.

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