Denny Hamlin Takes a Sarcastic Jab at His Former Antagonist as He Continues to Work in the Wrong Direction

Just the other day, the folks at Charlotte Motor Speedway dropped some news: they’re tweaking their 17-turn, 2.28-mile “roval” course, all set for the Oct. 13 playoff race. The shake-up is all about spicing things up, giving drivers more chances to pass, and making teams scratch their heads on how to nail this new layout, say the track bigwigs. The fresh twist by SMI sure did catch the eye of Marcus Smith’s rival, Denny Hamlin.

The JGR driver has been vocal, asserting that the revamp is just a ploy to drum up a fresh narrative for the track. But even he seemed a bit thrown off on his podcast recently, scratching his head over another new track being built right behind the old one, and he’s reaching out to fans to make sense of it all.

Denny Hamlin asks fans to help him

The Bank of America Roval 400 is about to get a lot more interesting, as it’s the last race before the field shrinks from 12 to eight drivers. The track authorities are stretching out the straightaway after Turn 5 and adding a new Turn 6 that leads into a tight hairpin at Turn 7. They’ve also tweaked Turn 16 into a sharper final chicane on the front stretch. Despite the tweaks, the track will keep its 17 turns and 2.28 miles, complete with a 35-foot elevation change.

These cool changes are part of Marcus Smith’s Speedway Motorsports’ latest plans, but the JGR star driver couldn’t help but throw a bit of shade. Denny Hamlin quipped, “Ovals are the strong point of next-gen. What are we doing running through the parking lot at the roval, I do not know! And now they reconfigured it. Great! That just tells you that the track needed another storyline to keep this thing going.”

This jab from Hamlin follows up on their notorious Twitter spat, which was all about the dough—broadcast revenue, to be exact. Hamlin argued that teams actually get a bit more than the stated 25 percent once you factor in purse money. However, he was not shy about calling out Speedway Motorsports for not pouring enough back into its tracks. He also pointed out that his 23XI Racing team, which he runs with Michael Jordan, has injected more cash into the sport over the past decade than Speedway Motorsports has.

Besides that, Denny Hamlin was also seen scratching his head over a new road course popping up behind the Charlotte Motor Speedway that he just found out about. He was seemingly thrown for a loop and reached out on social media, saying, “Actually I need an explanation! While coming into the racetrack there is a road course being built behind Charlotte Motor Speedway. Can someone on social media tell me what that is going to be for?” His co-host, Jared Allen, chimed in too, mentioning, “It has lights as well!” Hamlin was eager to get the scoop on what was going on.

Hamlin added, “It’s somewhat hidden I’ve not seen anything about it. But can someone on social media tell me what is this road course being built in. It’s kind of like in the wood. It’s got trees around. It’s pretty! It’s somewhat narrow. So, I don’t know that’s it’s going to be like an actual.”

And while he already has some issues with Marcus Smith, and then confusion about the rumored new track, his disappointments are not just limited to that. Denny Hamlin has also got some bones to pick with NASCAR itself, especially concerning the latest race at Charlotte.

The JGR driver wasn’t thrilled with NASCAR’s decision to cut the race short

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Even though he managed to pull off a fourth-place finish, Denny Hamlin was frustrated after losing several spots due to Chris Buescher’s block on pit road. The three-time Daytona champ was pretty sure the race could have restarted.

He figured by noon they’d be back at it, and by 12:15, the track looked ready with drivers gearing up. But then, out of the blue, they turned off the drying equipment. He said, “In my mind, from what I saw, by 12 o’clock we would be racing. At 12:15, the track was dry. The drivers were getting ready. All of a sudden, they shut down the Titans or the Jet Dryers and was like, uh-oh, are they about to call this thing?”

What do you think? Could the race have kept going? Could Hamlin have climbed higher up the ranks, and might Kyle Larson have racked up enough laps to enter the playoffs by finishing 151 laps at Charlotte without being dependent on the mercy of NASCAR’s waiver?