The first race of the NASCAR Playoffs was an entertaining one, especially because of Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver entered the playoffs with 25 points, ranking third in the table. While a win would have done wonders for his title aspirations, Hamlin turned it into a comical affair in Stage 3 on Monday.

It is no secret that after 19 years of racing, the 42-year-old has been keen on going all the way in the 2023 season. However, despite his impressive performance, Hamlin has struggled to win the hearts of NASCAR fans.

Denny Hamlin gets paranoid at Darlington Raceway despite having a dominant performance

The race at Darlington Raceway was an eventful one for Joe Gibbs Racing. On a day when Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell struggled with their pit crew mishaps, Denny Hamlin looked in a different league. In fact, he looked untouchable for the first two stages.

After putting on a dominant performance in Stage 1 and Stage 2, Hamlin had the perfect start to the playoffs. However, things didn’t quite go in the same direction in Stage 3. With almost 89 laps to go, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt he had a loose wheel on his car.

Due to this, Denny Hamlin had to return to pit road. What happened next was even more tragic. While he complained about a loose wheel, his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, denied having a failure of this sort.

Chris said, “Everything we can tell, the wheel looked fine, bud.”

While the #11 driver argued it was loose, it looked like he got paranoid about the situation. Regardless of the actual scenario, it cost Hamlin massively given how he looked so dominant and very likely to win the race.

Interestingly, Hamlin led 177 laps before the incident took place.

READ MORE – Denny Hamlin Leaves a Nightmare for His Crew With a 3-Word Message, Revealing the Truth of Darlington

From the information received from the JGR team, it looked like a fallacy from Hamlin’s end. Nevertheless, the fans saw the funny side of it and expressed it on social media.

NASCAR fandom mocks the JGR driver after his questionable decision at Darlington Raceway

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After having raced so well for more than two stages at Darlington, Denny Hamlin was destined for a playoff win and a place in the round of 12. However, his decision to return to pit road, fearing a loose wheel, turned things around drastically.

It not only took away his chances of a dominant win but also turned it into a comical affair for the fans. Some of the fans slammed him sarcastically for his decision-making.

“nah Hamlin is always right“

“Just cost himself big time”

At the same time, realizing what happened, many got excited for the upcoming episode of his podcast “Actions Detrimental”. One fan said, “Denny is gonna go on actions detrimental and be like I don’t care that it wasn’t loose. That wheel was loose because I Denny Hamlin, and I’m always right”

WATCH THIS STORY: Denny Hamlin swears loyalty away from Joe Gibbs during contract discussions.

At the same time, another fan said, “Actions detrimental gonna be lit tomorrow!”It is indeed surprising what happened. What do you think? Was Hamlin himself to blame for missing out on a glorious opportunity? Let us know in the comments below.