As Denny Hamlin continues his journey as NASCAR‘s bad guy, he is more than self-aware. He’ll even tell you he’s a bit “too selfish.” Hamlin has been at Joe Gibbs Racing his entire career and has driven alongside a lot of drivers.
Despite having lots of teammates over the years, Denny Hamlin doesn’t see himself as that great of a teammate. He isn’t a bad teammate. He knows when he has to help and when he needs to take one or the organization.
In a one-on-one with Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, Hamlin was honest about his tendencies as a teammate. He was asked if it’s easier to work things out with drivers that you know personally.
“I think it is,” Hamlin admitted. “It always is difficult to navigate on-track stuff with people that you have off-the-track relationships with because your team doesn’t care about that. Your team doesn’t care that you guys went to dinner last night. They care, like, we just spent overtime hours getting this car ready, we’re giving it our all, we’ve trained two-a-days on pit stops, we’ve gotten better — are you going to give everything you can to win this race for us or not? And if you don’t, then it’s really, really hard to keep them behind you.
“So I think I’m a good teammate. I’m not a great teammate. I’ve never been a great teammate because I’m too selfish. I want to win for myself and my team too much. And sometimes that puts strains on relationships I have with friends off the track. And so hopefully everyone understands that I’m just trying to do everything I can any weekend to win for my team because it means more to me to keep them behind me than anyone else.”
Is Denny Hamlin ‘too selfish?’
Now, we have seen what Denny Hamlin does to other drivers with a win on the line. He will race you hard and if it means a lot to him, he’s willing to dump you. Every great driver has dumped another driver at one point or another.
Earlier this season we heard Hamlin admit he’d push Bubba Wallace over Ty Gibbs at Daytona if it came down to it. That is a selfish interest. He wants the car that he owns in the playoffs. He doesn’t make money if Ty makes the playoffs or if his other teammates perform well.
Not everyone has gotten along with Hamlin, teammates, or otherwise. Professional sports aren’t about making friends, though. It is about results and wins, and when it comes to racing, only one car can win. Teammate or not, friend off the track or not – only one driver is taking home the trophy after the race.
So Denny Hamlin is not a “great teammate.” There is no doubt that he is a great driver, though. 51 wins and counting, Hamlin is making his case for a championship this year, the one thing that has eluded him thus far.