Denny Hamlin Remain Dubious of NASCAR Being Able to Generate “Superstars” Under the Current Format

Cup Series star Denny Hamlin is known for his controversial statements and he might have said some things to rile fans up yet again. It’s no secret that the JGR star believes NASCAR lacks superstars like Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon in the present era. This time, however, rather than his comments pointing at any driver or team, it was NASCAR on the receiving end.

This driver of the #11 spoke about the matter concerning a driver’s performance and how it is difficult for there to be a clear-cut dominant driver like there is in other motorsports like Formula One. To make racing as close as possible, NASCAR mandated that all cars have to be the same, and while many believe it was a good initiative, Hamlin doesn’t feel so.

Denny Hamlin is not a fan of NASCAR’s ‘equal cars’ idea

Speaking about the issue ahead of the Bristol dirt race in the Cup Series, Denny Hamlin said that something about the equal cars situation needs to change for a true superstar to emerge out of stock car racing. The success of a driver largely depends on their team and if everyone is producing a car of the same potential, that’s never going to happen.

“If you want to see certain drivers do what other drivers cannot, you have to make things different. You have to make it harder to drive, all that stuff but right now, I think if you put 20 cars in the lead with 10 go to, that’s a…the star in that is the track position because the cars are all the same, they’re not difficult to drive so…I think it’s all relative certainly. It’s less likely. Now you can have those big seasons in NASCAR as long as you’ve got a really good pit crew, a good team. You still gotta set up the cars, the driver’s still gotta have a good skill set, execute, all that. I still think that 8, 9 win seasons are still possible but it’s I don’t know if you’re gonna grow any superstars currently the way it’s going,” the 3-time Daytona 500 winner said.

Another part of what makes a superstar is personality, something that Hamlin and former Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon are known for. However, the JGR star was involved in a war of words with the Hendrick Motorsports executive last year over the personality of the HMS drivers.

When Denny Hamlin slammed Jeff Gordon’s approach to building star power

As per Denny Hamlin, the drivers racing for the team have a lot of personality, but they either don’t show it or are discouraged from doing so. These comments came after Gordon called the 43-year-old’s personality ‘distracting’. On an earlier episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the #11 driver claimed that the former Cup Series champion’s mentality was stunting the sport’s growth as it prevented more vocal stars from emerging, who could be marketed brilliantly.

“I don’t get it. … I go in Monday and I’m a professional, because that’s what professionals do. They go into a meeting and they act professional. I think he’s been to one too many Burning Mans. … He’s going against the logic that he said twelve months ago. … He’s basically saying that, ‘I want them to be tidy, not controversial.’ I couldn’t disagree more. I’m glad I drive for Joe Gibbs Racing. I’m glad I run my team the way I run my team, because I will never run my team saying things like that. That’s his opinion. He’s allowed to have that opinion. But certainly think that that’s the absolute wrong way to go if you want star power in this sport,” Hamlin said as per On3.

It was one of the biggest stories of the 2023 season as a superstar from the past went up against a current star and had the entire NASCAR community hooked. Denny Hamlin, since then, has probably not budged from his beliefs, but is he right? What’s your taken on NASCAR’s current approach?

Read More – Denny Hamlin Hellbent on NASCAR Being Left With No Other Option Than His Unwelcome Solution