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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DoorDash Toyota, talks with co-team owner Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, after the last chance qualifying race for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 DoorDash Toyota, talks with co-team owner Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, after the last chance qualifying race for the NASCAR Cup Series Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Knowing Denny Hamlin the person, if you’d tell a person a year ago that he wouldn’t properly celebrate winning his first race of the season in front of his home crowd, especially after a nightmare start to his season, you’d be call a lunatic. But this is exactly what happened this weekend.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver took his No.11 Camry to the victory lane for the first time in the season and yet he couldn’t celebrate it the way he would’ve wanted to.
This is because while Denny Hamlin, the racecar driver, had just won a race, Denny Hamlin, the team owner, had to plow through frustrations about yet another disappointing result.
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He told former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty after the race, “On days like yesterday, I’m happy for a second, and then I look at the results like ‘WTF?’ You gotta kidding me. It’s frustrating I couldn’t enjoy the win very long.'”
Also, @dennyhamlin to @KylePetty on being a Richmond race winner and frustrated Cup team owner on the same day. "On days like yesterday, I'm happy for a second, and then I look at the results like 'WTF?' You gotta kidding me. It's frustrating I couldn't enjoy the win very long.'
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) April 5, 2022
The one thing Michael Jordan asked Denny Hamlin before they formed 23XI Racing
Leading up to the Daytona 500 earlier this year, Denny Hamlin revealed the one requirement NBA legend and his potential business partner Michael Jordan asked him for.
“One of the things that was very important to him and his brand is that we can’t fail,” Hamlin said. “We can’t be going out of business in a couple years.”
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“We’ve got to be in this for the long haul. And so, building something slowly but surely, that is the strategic way we’re trying to go about this.”
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DOVER, DELAWARE – MAY 16: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, talk on the grid during the NASCAR Cup Series Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway on May 16, 2021 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team is currently in its second year. However, except for that one Talladega win, they don’t really have a lot to show for their ambitions on track.
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So one wonders, just how long can the NBA legend, who is notoriously famous for his ‘drive to win’, will continue to take part in the “long haul,” as the failures seem to be outgrowing the successes they’ve had, one weekend at a time.
