Denny Hamlin Sidesteps From Criticizing SMI-Owned Texas as He Breaks Down His Self-Inflicted Loss

Last week, all the buzz in the NASCAR world was about Denny Hamlin‘s clash with SMI chairman Marcus Smith. The gist of the beef? Hamlin argued that SMI, despite pocketing a hefty fee from the races, wasn’t delivering enough bang for the buck. He pointed out that not only have most SMI-owned tracks seen little improvement, but the upgrades that were done didn’t hit the mark either. He even singled out Texas, saying, “Texas- It needs to be completely redone. I don’t know how you fix Texas at this point.” Fast forward to this week, despite Hamlin leading 37 laps at the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400, he didn’t comment on the track’s condition after his hopes of winning vanished with just two laps remaining.

Several drivers had problems with bumps in turns 3 and 4, but Denny Hamlin did not have anything to say about that

Turns 3 and 4 were notorious in Sunday’s race, especially with those gnarly bumps in Turn 4, and not just for Denny Hamlin. They caused a whole lot of chaos, with cars bottoming out and spinning out super fast. Jimmie Johnson was the first to bring out a caution there, and several others, like Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell, who slammed into the wall, ending their race day early. It was a tough spot on the track, causing trouble for others too, like Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, and John Hunter Nemechek.

The race came to a head when Hamlin, trying to keep it together outside Elliott during the first overtime, spun out and hit the fence. Asked about the track’s tricky conditions, Hamlin dodged a direct answer, saying, “Yeah, I mean I don’t know it’s..and the two corners are so different that it’s hard to get it right on both ends. And so, it’s yeah you can go up there and it’s you know the #45 got it going there at one point, but we just couldn’t get it going. […] So I..yeah I was, I didn’t need that caution for sure but that’s what you have here at Texas is a lot of cautions and you just got to navigate around it and do the best you can.”

Michael McDowell didn’t blame the track for his spin, simply saying, “It’s my fault that I spun. It’s not the track’s fault.” Turns 1 and 2 were just as tricky, causing trouble for many drivers including defending Cup champ Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and several others during the chaotic late-race restarts. The race saw a total of 16 cautions, tying the record for the most in a Cup race at this track—a record set back in 2022.

Despite the notorious track conditions, Denny Hamlin stayed mum on criticizing the track, even though he’s previously voiced that Texas Motor Speedway needs a total overhaul. It’s been a common sentiment among drivers for some time now about the challenges at this track. But what is the history of the track? Have those turns always been like this?

How did Texas Motor Speedway become one of NASCAR’s most criticized tracks?

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Back in 2017, the track’s president, Eddie Gossage, mentioned that the old asphalt had become “porous, kind of like a sponge.” This led to a big makeover, where Turns 1 and 2 were widened and flattened, while Turns 3 and 4 kept their original banking. This redesign turned Texas into NASCAR’s most unique intermediate track, but it didn’t sit well with drivers. Right from the start, they struggled with the track’s slickness, leading to numerous spins and crashes even before the race started. Several drivers ended up pulling out backup cars just to compete.

Chase Elliott didn’t hold back in 2018, slamming the track as “a really frustrating racetrack ever since they ruined it two years ago.” Attempts to improve grip with a traction compound initially received positive feedback in 2019. However, problems quickly resurfaced. Despite stopping the use of the compound on Turns 1 and 2 and trying to clean it up, the track remained problematic, staining easily.

The weather didn’t help either, with a persistent mist causing multiple delays to a NASCAR playoff race, which took several attempts to complete. By 2023, the situation hadn’t improved much; a race filled with cautions and blown tires dragged on for over four hours. By then, drivers were openly critical, leading to NASCAR dropping the second Texas race from the schedule. Even Kyle Larson expressed extreme frustration, saying, “I would like them to demolish this place and then start over from scratch.”

Denny Hamlin had also criticized the track’s design, noting, “They just really tried to get creative and build something different, but different is not always great. The design of it just doesn’t match what we do.” Perhaps another redesign, especially of Turns 1 and 2, would be a better solution than leaving such a major market off the schedule.

For now, we’re waiting to hear more from the drivers, maybe even on Hamlin’s podcast this week. Stay tuned for more updates on this!