When it comes to the different NASCAR leagues, Denny Hamlin believes the Truck Series is actually a notch above the Xfinity Series. The driver of the No. 11 car raved about the “up-and-coming” talent driving the trucks in his latest Actions Detrimental podcast.
Hamlin was asked if the two series — Truck and Xfinity — were equal in terms of talent. The veteran driver had no trouble shooting down that notion.
“No, Truck’s better,” Hamlin said. “Trucks are better. I mean, the competition level is better in trucks. There’s no question, there’s more better trucks in the Truck Series.
“Xfinity … I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s the model or what, but if you look at the starting grid from 12 years ago, you had 25 really good cars and you had eight, nine Cup drivers in it and it was a battle. It was something to be seen.”
After making the bold statement regarding the Truck Series, Hamlin then discussed the previous success of the Xfinity Series. Essentially, the driver believes the league has taken a hit over the past decade in terms of talent.
Hamlin pointed to the amount of talent that used to fill the Xfinity Series, especially with drivers in the Cup Series pulling double duty. However, it’s just not the case any longer.
“I mean there might be eight cars that can win the Xfinity Series. Maybe there’s eight cars,” Hamlin said. “I just think the Truck Series has more good trucks with more young and up-and-coming talent in it. So, I think it’s harder to win in Trucks than in Xfinity. Just my opinion.”
Denny Hamlin weighs in on NASCAR Xfinity Series moving to CW
NASCAR’s Xfinity Series is making a broadcasting move to the CW. Hamlin talked about both the positives and the negatives associated with the big change in coverage.
“Immediately when we saw it — us car owners are like ‘Alright, let’s start doing math. Let’s try and figure out what’s in this deal, what’s not in this deal and how does it relate to the current deal.’ From the information I gathered from the sources I have, what it was, was $75 million-ish, and then you go from $115 million,” Hamlin said. “What’s not included in that $115 million is that NASCAR is going to produce the Xfinity Series. Likely, they’re going to be producing it out of Charlotte, wherever the race is. So they won’t be traveling a whole lot of people.
“NASCAR will then charge back whatever the production cost is to them to produce this to The CW. NASCAR built a $30 million production facility right next to the R&D Center there in Concord for these reasons. You have this, you have a potential Amazon coming on [which will] likely lean on NASCAR to produce that series.”