Denny Hamlin finally clinched a long-awaited victory at the Pocono 400. Hamlin showed his glee to the fans by performing a burnout in front of them. But all of it was not without its share of drama. Before he celebrated his triumph, controversy arose over an aggressive move he made toward fellow driver Kyle Larson.

This season has been marked by mixed emotions for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, as he faced criticism and boos from fans despite a fairly successful season so far. Majorly, it is his on-track incidents involving drivers like Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson that have raised questions about Hamlin’s behavior. The question that comes up: is he working his way to become the most disliked driver on the NASCAR grid? Well, Dale Earnhardt Jr has some views.

Dale Earnhardt Jr gives his take on the controversy surrounding Denny Hamlin

Hamlin is definitely not the first driver who has been booed on the track. Kyle Busch has consistently been the target of fans’ hatred, and it was evident by the recent incident where fans cheered on #8’s crash. In his podcast, Denny Hamlin speculated that this animosity towards Kyle Busch might be due to his recent team and manufacturer change. But now, as the spotlight of boos has shifted to Hamlin, we got to hear Dale Earnhardt Jr and his slightly unique perspective on the matter.

After a post-race interview where Kyle Larson mentioned past clashes with Denny Hamlin and the lack of apologies from him, Dale Jr recalled how drivers have traditionally said sorry after close racing incidents. He also went on to highlight how tough this year has been for Hamlin, with various on and off-track incidents souring fans’ opinions of him.

He said, “I really think that put anybody else in Denny’s car and do you have the same outrage. I mean he already has a lot of people pretty upset at him over this year right? Some of the things he’s been involved in on and off the track have soured a lot of fans, right?”

Dale further compared him with Kyle Busch and said, “He’s likely the most booed driver. It used to be uh Kyle Busch but no it ain’t even close.”

“So you know he didn’t help himself there, uh the fans were adamant, now I look down and I’m in the booth and I’m looking down and there’s some fans cheering, all right there’s some 11 flags and shirts and they got their arm in the air but it was like 80-20.”

However, he noted that despite Hamlin’s actions, both on and off the track, he saw some fans supporting Hamlin with 11 flags and shirts. But the majority seemed to voice their disapproval, creating an 80-20 split in fan sentiment.

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Denny Hamlin breaks his silence over “the villain” role

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During the post-race interview, Denny opened up about the booing from fans. He was also asked if he is leaning into the villain’s role like Kyle Busch. But the #11 driver didn’t agree to that.

Denny said, “I mean, I don’t think anyone likes to be disliked. I don’t know. I mean, no, I don’t try to do anything to lean into it, for sure. I think it just kind of happens naturally, to be honest with you. Some of the questionable incidents, like with the Chase thing, that stirs the things up, right? Me and Chase get together, we crash at Charlotte, it just fires the people right back up that, like, I’m a bad guy.”

Despite the controversies and divided opinions, Denny Hamlin remains resolute in his pursuit of a championship title. He is determined to overcome the challenges. Can he do it? Can he get rid of the unofficial tag he has for ‘the most successful driver without a championship’?

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