Resurfaced Footage of Denny Hamlin & Carl Edwards’ 190 Mph Pocono Chaos Leaves Fans Nostalgic

We all know how glum Denny Hamlin’s face looked after the 2024 Phoenix race. Despite clinching three race victories and fetching top-fives at Homestead and Martinsville, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver still failed to crack the Championship 4 round. As the season has ended, it is the perfect time to compare his gloomy face to a completely opposite expression he had 18 years ago. Then, he was good friends with a former Cup Series legend.

Carl Edwards was a fan-favorite racer in the series, as he had that extra passionate edge. He worked his way into racing, working as a substitute teacher to pay his bills at first. He also capped off almost all his 72 NASCAR national race victories with a celebratory backflip. Hamlin got a taste of this unbridled enthusiasm in a fun encounter in 2006, that melted fans’ hearts.

When Denny Hamlin asked to ‘slow down’

The JGR driver himself is one of the most seasoned drivers in the Cup Series garage. Denny Hamlin owns 54 Cup race wins, with several memorable moments. This year during the Bristol race, he displayed remarkable prowess in tire management as Goodyear’s tires fell off fast at the short track. Yet even pro racers’ hearts can tremble in a super-fast race car. Carl Edwards may have shocked fans by retiring suddenly in 2016, but the veteran’s driving skills were unmatched. His favorite thing in NASCAR was “sliding the cars around and managing horsepower.”

So back in 2006, when NASCAR’s Cup cars exceeded 900 hp, Edwards was in his slice of heaven. He took Denny Hamlin for a ride in a Gen-4 car around Pocono Raceway, as revealed in a recently posted video. While Edwards was thoroughly enjoying riding out the vehicle at 190 mph, a young Hamlin could be seen getting nervous. He said at one point, “Easy…you better slow down, dude.” Yet the JGR driver was smiling throughout, even when Edwards spun the car into the grass while maintaining that high speed. Edwards and Hamlin even did a victory donut together.

Edwards has hailed Denny Hamlin as a “hard-working” racer. The latter was also very excited when Edwards rediscovered his love for racing recently. But Hamlin knows that the veteran driver will not come back soon, as today’s NASCAR would not allow for his 2006 speedy spectacle. Hamlin said, “I just told him whenever he’s ready, just let me know, whenever you get that itch…I think he’s probably stated many times – until they put horsepower back in these cars, I’m not doing it.”

Yet fans would love to see old times reinstated – as they were thrilled to see the 2006 video.

NASCAR community reminisces about past times

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After all, watching drivers drain out a race car’s capacity and bring out its best speed can be the ultimate thrill! Carl Edwards admitted that he loves the 900 hp cars going at 200 mph, when both the track and tires are slippery, as “that’s what it’s supposed to be.” NASCAR fans could agree no less.

They demanded a walk down memory lane upon watching Denny Hamlin and Edwards’ footage, saying that should be the norm. “Man they should bring this back. Put the veterans in the passengers seat and the young drivers in the drivers seat,” an X user wrote. Another fan chimed in and felt nostalgic, “Ha, good times 😂”

However, NASCAR scaled down from those speedy times. The sport began reducing horsepower in 2015 from over 900 to 750 and then as low as 550. Currently, the cars can make 670 hp, much to the chagrin of the industry. Even though Denny Hamlin tasted all these speeds, he was still visibly afraid in the passenger’s seat – a sign of how racers always prefer the driver’s seat. That is what a fan pointed out: “It’s so funny seeing how scared drivers get as soon as they are NOT in the driver’s seat 🤣 even though the driver is riding around at an intensity less than maybe even practice 😂😂😂” Somebody else also harped on the same theory: “You can tell drivers are control freaks and being the passenger freaks em out.”

Some fans were simply in awe of Carl Edwards’ driving prowess. He won the Xfinity Series championship in 2007 and won his first races in both Cup and Xfinity during an early season weekend sweep at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Although he never clinched a Cup title, he came dangerously close to it – almost toppling Tony Stewart in 2011. So somebody marveled at Edwards’ comfort with huge speeds. “Just casually spinning the car out at 190 not hitting anything and laughing is crazy work lmao.”

So Denny Hamlin’s awe of Edwards’ driving is justifiable. Clearly, we would not be able to wait patiently for Carl Edwards to come back!