Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin is probably facing his worst times as a race car driver right now. Following last Sunday’s race in Martinsville, his hopes of winning a Cup Series championship crumbled down for the 18th time in a row. His words of confidence, his recent hostilities with fans, and his attitude off the track, all came bearing down on him after his loss. With the driver down in the dumps, his vulnerability appears to be an opportunity for some to put the spotlight on themselves.

Texas Motor Speedway’s former president, Eddie Gossage, is one among them. Taking to “X” to throw some words to mock Hamlin, the ex-president saw some unlikely allies coming from an unexpected direction to stand behind the #11 driver.

Eddie Gossage takes advantage of Denny Hamlin’s vulnerability to mock him

At the Xfinity 500 race, Denny Hamlin faced downfall after a close-cut battle with Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. Only a win would have put him through to the Championship 4, but he had to settle for a P3 finish. Already facing much criticism and backlash for his attitude throughout the season, it was obvious that the loss would become the subject of much mockery. With many shots being fired at the driver, the former president of the 1.5-mile track in Fort Worth took his chance too.

Eddie Gossage served as the president of the Texas Motor Speedway for a quarter of a century. An icon in his own field, he currently works as a public speaker and management consultant. In the aftermath of Sunday’s race, Gossage posted a rather unwarranted message about Hamlin on his “X” page. Highlighting the driver’s inability to win a championship, he perhaps went over the line claiming that he was “distracted by too many non-competition items”.

Gossage is known for creating some extreme changes to the Texas track. By the time his final race as president took place in June 2021, he’d taken the speedway beyond just NASCAR. Entertaining millions of fans, the track played host to IndyCar, World of Outlaw races, and many influential music concerts under his watchful eye. The popularity and the name that he has made for himself are the reasons why his words, which exceed the boundaries of professional respect, are surprising.

But little did the former president know that he’d shot himself in the foot by putting across the message. In a complete turnaround of the usual scenes in NASCAR, Joe Gibbs’ driver found himself shouldered by the support of an unexpected ally.

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The biggest force in NASCAR gets behind Denny Hamlin against the Texas Speedway’s president

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Denny Hamlin has given fans many solid reasons to be not liked. His demeanor in interviews and podcasts, his never-ending feuds with fellow drivers, and “incidents” that are a result of his grudges are just a few to name. As the season progressed, he was booed at almost every track that he went to across the country. Regardless of whether he won or did not finish, he was always the “villain.” The sequences of hate that we saw unfold in these months are precisely why the case of Eddie Gossage mocking the Joe Gibbs Racing star is a total surprise.

Coming to the aid of the #11 driver against the words from Gossage were none other than NASCAR fans. Rallying together against the former president’s post on “X,” they voiced their collective criticism. Expressing the bad viewpoint that the post took, one user wrote, “Click the three little dots at the top right and press delete.” Another quickly noted the contrast in the situation. They wrote, “Nobody likes Denny, but everyone is coming to his defense in the comments. That’s how bad of a take this is.”

Following up, one more comment hit back at the life’s work of Gossage. The Texas Motor Speedway’s 2017 reconfiguration to change its banking angles has since received much backlash. Courtesy of the change or not, fixtures at the circuit are deemed to be a boring affair in the schedule. Touching upon the ex-president’s involvement in it, the comment read, “That’s bold coming from the worst NASCAR track president in history who absolutely ruined his track with that garbage reconfig.”

Denny Hamlin not winning a championship cannot diminish his legacy as an icon in stock car racing. With his strong acumen behind the wheel and bold business decisions, he has created a golden spot for himself in NASCAR. Should he end his career without getting his hands on that trophy, he will still only be joining an elite list that already includes the likes of 5x runner-up Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The words of a fan summed up the retaliation to Eddie Gossage’s tweet pretty accurately. It read, “We need to start talking about Mark Martin, Dale Jr, and Carl Edwards like this if we want to be all disrespectful now.”

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