He may be the most serious driver on race day, but Denny Hamlin knows how to stay relevant in an ever-changing world. Recently, the 43-year-old driver decided to show an America’s Got Talent judge just what it’s like to drive around a track in a NASCAR Cup Series car at the L.A. Coliseum. The judge was none other than Howie Mandel, who was left confused by one of the aspects of stock car racing.
Denny Hamlin’s racing season starts this Sunday in the Clash in Los Angeles. The event is an exhibition race before the Cup season begins and is usually characterized by several celebrity appearances. The race serves as a pre-cursor to the regular season, and it is believed that the Clash often sets the tone for a driver’s campaign that year.
America’s Got Talent judge struggles with a ‘no-door car’
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It must have been on the back of Denny Hamlin’s mind, but setting the tone for the upcoming season might not have been what he was thinking about when he met Howie Mandel. America’s Got Talent judge seems to have had an affinity for stock car racing and wanted to know what it felt like to be in one. Well, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver obliged.
However, Mandel was confused about one aspect of the car. Getting in and out of it. Stock cars do not have doors like civilian vehicles, and that often stumps people not familiar with the sport. Drivers have to climb in and out through the window, and for the America’s Got Talent judge, that was one of the most challenging things he did that day.
“I’m just gonna say it, I don’t know how to get out. I don’t know…I’m trying. I know like the…watch my head? They don’t have a door, there’s not a door. Like it’s a window. You know what this is? This is like…what do you call it…like a passenger having a C-section,” Mandel said after getting out of the car.
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For the driver of the #11, 2024 will be yet another long, excruciating year in his search for that elusive Cup Series championship. A lot of people believed that 2023 was going to be the year of Denny Hamlin, only to be proven wrong in Martinsville. The JGR star and 23XI co-owner had some choice words on the day he was eliminated which recently came to light in the Netflix documentary.
Will Denny Hamlin finally win the Cup, or will he be left frustrated again?
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Denny Hamlin has won more than 50 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, and that makes it even more frustrating. Some drivers have won the title with fewer wins than him. After he was knocked out of the running in Martinsville last year, Denny Hamlin rued his luck and, in his frustration, referred to himself as cursed.
“I can’t draw any conclusions on why, year after year, things out of my control have happened that (have) taken us from in control to out of it. It’s just been bad luck, honestly. I am the black cat of death. I’m (expletive) cursed,” the 43-year-old said, as per NASCAR.
However, he also said that the championship was not going to define his career in the first episode of Full Speed, so there was a hint of contradiction. “Do I want to win a championship? A thousand percent,” said Hamlin. “But it’s not going to define my career. My career is defined by how many trophies do I have right here in this house? Right now, there’s 50 of them.”
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Regardless, Denny Hamlin knows that he does not have much time left, and perhaps 2024 will be the year that he finally gets the job done.
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