Denny Hamlin isn’t looking forward to sitting in “I-77” traffic during this Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Known as one of the finest superspeedway drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, the two-time winner at Talladega feels the best days of the 2.66-mile oval are well in the past, he said on the Monday episode of the “Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin” podcast.
“It’s a much wider race track but we don’t need all that space,” Hamlin said. “We don’t need all that space… Man, I hate being Denny Downer. Gosh, dang it. I’m trying to find some positives here but our superspeedway racing isn’t what it used to be three wide, four wide. You know, Dale Earnhardt, I don’t know how many times you’re going to see the Dale Earnhardt comes from 18th to 1st in five f—— laps or whatever it is. They’re going to keep playing that damn replay.
“Well that’s nice because it’s not able to be done anymore. It’s just um, we’re going to get in line, there’s going to be an inside line and there’s going to be an outside line. I’m going to be in one of them, and I’m going to just sit right there. Put on the handcuffs.
“The day of building runs, making runs and, it’s just… We’re just going to sit there in I-77 traffic and hopefully, I pick the right line that goes forward. And what happens is whatever line has the third and fourth place guy willing to push more, that line usually prevails.”
Denny Hamlin Addresses Bubba Wallace Situation From Martinsville
Hamlin, 42, has yet to race his No. 11 Toyota Camry to victory lane this season. He has three top 10s through nine races this season, including a fourth-place finish in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway this past Sunday. His last win at Talladega came in the YellaWood 500 in October 2020.
While Hamlin led at Martinsville, he started to lap his 23XI Racing driver, Bubba Wallace. That’s when the two got into one another. Hamlin dived into the controversy on the podcast, saying “It’s just a situation where he’s fighting because he knows how important it is to stay on the lead lap and I am fighting to put all these guys a lap down.”
“So, I was behind Bubba for a really long time,” Hamlin said. “And I’m getting frustrated and I’m like ‘Gosh dang it.’ I moved up and he moved up in front of me and I just did that for about three or four laps and I’m like ‘I gotta dive it in here.’ So, I dove in, he came down we hit, I knocked him up the track then he for four straight laps had my rear tires off the race track… Told him afterwards, ‘If you wanted to hit me that was fine for like once or twice but like, eventually you gotta get off my ass. I am the leader of the race.’”