“S**t! We Didn’t Plan for That”- Denny Hamlin Defends Netflix’s Christopher Bell Hesitancy With “Wasted Footage” Argument

Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin is back for a second season. With the community buzzing about Netflix’s latest NASCAR show, ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’, Hamlin and his co-host Jared Allen discussed their takeaways from the docu-series. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is one of the nine playoff drivers featuring in NASCAR: Full Speed and has allowed the production to give fans a look at the unexplored side of his life.

As the podcast progressed, Denny Hamlin was reminded of the fourth episode, where his teammate and #20 driver Christopher Bell was in the limelight. In one of the shots, the docu-series host revealed Netflix’s plan for Christopher Bell in the show’s proceedings and dropped a clue for the episode’s title, ‘Not in the Plan.’ An attentive Denny noticed it and highlighted the possible reason for Netflix’s empirical decision.

Denny Hamlin feels that Netflix had to do some revision for NASCAR: Full Speed

NASCAR: Full Speed focuses on the ten most intense races of the playoff season. Since production had to begin at Darlington, the first race of the playoff schedule, it was impossible for the creators to know the drivers moving ahead to compete for the championship. Based on the probabilities from a driver’s reputation and recent history in the sport, the director’s eyes would naturally be drawn towards the defending champion, Joey Logano.

Denny Hamlin elaborated more about the guessing game, “The producers had decisions to make. Early in, they were trying to figure out who was going to win the championship with ten weeks to go. I noticed in Darlington, right, they were following Joey; they were following these guys.”

The Round of 16 was a classic example of the unpredictability of the playoffs. Veterans like Logano and Harvick were among the first four drivers to be eliminated, leaving the community in shock. From a storyline’s standpoint, this gave Netflix a new opportunity to work on. Logano’s melancholy and the rise of younger drivers was a great theme to portray the playoffs.

Speaking about the production studio’s realization to shift their focus to Christopher Bell, who was in good form and eventually raced in the championship race again, Denny Hamlin added, “But as they fell off, then you had the Christopher Bells come into the story, and it is like, ‘S**t! we didn’t plan for that,‘ because you could argue that he has been in the final 4 now for a couple of years.”

“But at the time he had made it just last year for the first time. They were trying to catch up with the very end to ‘Here’s going to be the final 4’. I noticed that they followed guys in the beginning episodes, people that make the top 8 ninety per cent of the time, because they know that is not going to go into wasted footage.“

The fourth episode was a testament to Christopher Bell’s temperament and determination. Following a narrow defeat to Kyle Larson in the South Point 400, Bell redeemed himself with a victory at Homestead-Miami. NASCAR: Full Speed provides a detailed walkthrough of Bell’s rise to the top of the sport from the shadows and away from JGR’s spotlight, which was mainly on Denny Hamlin.

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NASCAR: Full Speed depicts Christopher Bell’s meteoric rise away from the highlights

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When the discussion comes to Joe Gibbs Racing, most fans would argue that Denny Hamlin is the team’s sharpest weapon. With 51 Cup Series wins, he is already in the NASCAR history books. Some would also mention the 2023 regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. with his consistency and experience in the sport. However, Christopher Bell has been the team’s closest hope to winning a championship in the past two seasons.

NASCAR: Full Speed showcases that aspect of his life quite well. In one of the episodes, Bell reveals his determined mindset to leave his mark on the sport. He understands that he is not on par with some historical drivers yet and is ready to put in the work. The show also explained Bell’s reasoning behind lacking an extravagant presence on social media and limiting his opinions to the race tracks.

These attributes of the docu-series make it a great watch. With the help of Netflix’s expertise in cinematics, NASCAR has done a commendable job in creating an engaging series with the help of its drivers and the occasion of the playoffs.

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