Circle Tracks

On Sunday, all eyes were on Denny Hamlin. After 20 years of trying, he entered the 2025 title-decider as the favorite for many. He recently secured his 60th career win, and he earned pole position for this race. He was also racing for his father, who is terminally ill and could not attend the race. And in the background of the battle on track, Hamlin's 23XI Racing team is in the middle of a ...Keep readingView the full article

Sunday marked the 67th time that Denny Hamlin has won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series but not all of them have counted. The official tally is still at 61, even after a career that includes four victories in The Clash/Shootout, and now his second in the All-Star Race, but he really resents this one not counting. He’s counting! “This one doesn't count,” Hamlin said with a laugh after ...Keep readingView the full article

With the exception of a very reserved legalese declaration, Denny Hamlin has largely kept his feelings to himself regarding the Joe Gibbs Racing v Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports lawsuit. Those feelings were made way more explicit on Thursday evening. Earlier in the day, Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson appeared on the GluckCast weekly show and answered a very specific question ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan are high-profile business partners at 23XI Racing but they also have a deep-seeded competitiveness towards each other on NASCAR Cup Series race days. For example, Hamlin will continue to race full-time against the cars he owns while at Joe Gibbs Racing through the end of next season, and frequently 'talks shit' to Jordan when they are both at the track. Those ...Keep readingView the full article

Will Denny Hamlin race in the NASCAR Cup Series next season after yet another championship heartbreak? The answer is ‘yes.’ However, had Hamlin closed out on that elusive championship earlier in the month at Phoenix Raceway, he would have 'begged' team owner Joe Gibbs to let him drop the figurative mic and set sail into retirement. It wouldn't have mattered that he still had two more ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin has said this frequently but his 23XI Racing team and Joe Gibbs Racing are true alliance partners as part of the $8 million a year the former pays to the latter in exchange for all technical data. But Hamlin says, and he did again on Monday on his Actions Detrimental podcast, that the information flow goes both ways. “We're always privy to what they're doing as well as they ...Keep readingView the full article

The bad news for Denny Hamlin is that he came up one position short of pulling off a perfect race on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. The good news is that he scored the most points in an era where that suddenly matters again. Hamlin led a race high 292 laps in the Cook Out 400, including the first and second stage, plus the fastest lap bonus, but was denied a seventh Ridgeway Grandfather ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin said it was a 'knee jerk reaction' when he tweeted out a frustrated response on Thursday evening to Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson’s commentary about the ongoing lawsuit brought forth by Joe Gibbs Racing.   Even though it was an emotional response, Hamlin also concedes that he logically feels this way too, as it is a matter of business principle to him as a Joe ...Keep readingView the full article

Once again, a general theme of the Daytona 500 and superspeedway racing with the NextGen car in general right now, is the amount of time drivers spend at half-throttle under green flag conditions. The reason they do this is because it is incredibly difficult to pass with the current generation car on these tracks when everyone is racing at full throttle. The cars are too equal and there is so ...Keep readingView the full article

On the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin ponders if the Kyle Busch era of NASCAR is over and actually has been longer than most within the community realize. It’s been three years and 100 races since the two-time Cup Series champion last won at Gateway on June 4, 2023 and it has been a struggle ever since his first half season at Richard Childress Racing. Since ...Keep readingView the full article

Last fall, Denny Hamlin earned a milestone 60th career at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, dedicating the win to his father. Since then, Hamlin suffered a bitter defeat in the title race, and lost his ailing father in an off-season house fire. But on Sunday, he returned to Victory Lane at Vegas for his 61st career win, and his first of the 2026 season. "This is a family sport, and my family ...Keep readingView the full article

When Denny Hamlin launched the ‘Action Detrimental’ podcast on Dirty Mo Media, he vowed to be authentically candid and honest about the hot topics of each NASCAR Cup Series race weekend. It’s proven to be a successful formula, at least until a current driver took exception to that candor, in the form of Kyle Busch. The former Joe Gibbs Racing teammates had a back and forth through the ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin 's 20-year quest to become a NASCAR Cup Series champion just got one step closer after securing pole position for the title-decider in Phoenix on Saturday. Hamlin flew to pole position with a confident-looking 28.914s lap, collecting his 48th career pole and his fifth of the 2025 season. "We're trying," smiled Hamlin after securing the top spot on the grid. "We're doing ...Keep readingView the full article

The 23XI and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust trial ended in a considerable victory for Denny Hamlin in the form of a settlement but now comes the real work of growing the discipline in decades to come. It was more than just a triumph for the team Hamlin co-owns with legendary sportsman Michael Jordan or the team owned by restaurant franchisee and NASCAR lifer Bob Jenkins too. The ...Keep readingView the full article

For much of the past several seasons, Denny Hamlin said reaching 60 career NASCAR Cup Series wins was his most important career goal, even more than the elusive championship, and he now sits at 61 after winning on Sunday at Las Vegas. He always said ‘60’ was the most important competitive goal, because he couldn’t control his destiny in the championship battle, for reasons ultimately ...Keep readingView the full article

In the immediate aftermath of Justin Allgaier blocking Denny Hamlin from the lead and triggering 'The Big One' in the 68th Daytona 500, the JR Motorsports driver took ‘100 percent’ of the blame but the Joe Gibbs Racing contender conceded his share a day later. The crash took place approaching the end of the second stage and collected 20 cars on Lap 124. Allgaier left about enough space for ...Keep readingView the full article

All-Star Race qualifying at Dover was far from conventional, and not just because of the unique format. Drivers had to complete three laps, including a four-tire pit stop at the end of the second lap. The qualifying session featured numerous incidents, penalties, and loose wheels.  Denny Hamlin, who won the Dover points race last year, secured pole position even after spinning on his warmup ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin has suffered mechanical misfortunes throughout the entire playoffs. As he pointed out on Monday during the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin has either won to advance or suffered an issue that thwarted an otherwise competitive car. On Saturday, he needed to be pushed off pit road to qualify because his car wouldn’t start without the manual shove. And ...Keep readingView the full article

In hindsight, Denny Hamlin wishes he would not have let Kyle Larson force him three-wide middle on the final restart on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. Of course, if he could do it all over again, he also would likely have restarted on the outside as well. That was the overall sentiment from Hamlin on Monday during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, one in which he feels ...Keep readingView the full article

After eight days of a bitter trial, NASCAR leadership finally settled and the lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports was settled. It was a highly contentious legal battle, and several eyebrow-raising comments were unsealed as a result of it. The result of the settlement will grant better terms for the race teams, and will lead to the introduction of permanent ...Keep readingView the full article

Before recording his Actions Detrimental podcast each week, Denny Hamlin goes back and reviews the race broadcast for the stories of the week, and that means sharing a frustration with race fans from this past weekend at Watkins Glen International. All the missed crashes and incidents. Read Also: NASCAR CupThe wild NASCAR Watkins Glen moments viewers never saw on ...Keep readingView the full article

There has been a considerable amount of debate over the past week about who should be eligible for the NASCAR Hall of Fame and now Denny Hamlin has weighed in with his opinions as well. The debate centers around drivers who have had tremendous success at levels lower than the Cup Series and if they should continue to be enshrined alongside the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin now has two wins in NASCAR's All-Star Race, taking victory in a chaotic race at Dover's 'Monster Mile.' He will be awarded the $1 million prize. He started from pole position, and led 103 laps. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe finished second after leading 61 laps, and Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones completed a Toyota 1-2-3.  Austin Dillon finished fourth, Connor ...Keep readingView the full article

Crossing the finish line on Sunday, Denny Hamlin said ‘old dogs can still hunt,’ and that might have enough legs to become the slogan for his 2026 season. There were a lot of reasons to expect that maybe this old dog might start to get a little bit sluggish. For one, he went through absolute hell over the winter, with the death of his father in a house fire, that also hospitalized mother ...Keep readingView the full article

Denny Hamlin was surprised that NASCAR issued a $50,000 fine and 25-point penalty to Ryan Preece, and believes it should be overturned or reduced on appeal, but also concedes from experience that the deck will be stacked against them. Preece was issued the penalty because the Sanctioning Body believed there was intent based on what the driver said over the radio, supplemented by SMT data ...Keep readingView the full article