Hard luck and missed opportunities—this is the story of Denny Hamlin. Despite having 54 wins in the cup series, to date, he has not yet won a single championship. However, despite his predicament, he started the season with grit and clenched three wins to his name. He was on his way to take his fourth in Kansas, but luck didn’t side with him then too. 

He not only lost the pole position by an inch. He also came under the radar for the vile comment he passed on one of Tony Stewart’s drivers. But that’s not all. At his podcast Actions Detrimental, he shared a big complaint against NASCAR.

Pit dilemmas cost Denny Hamlin his win in Kansas

Denny Hamlin’s pit struggles proved to be Achilles’ heel in his Kansas race. First, he overshot his pit stall and struggled to navigate Austin Hill. This mishap caused him to drop down seven positions. Later in his podcast, Hamlin vented on this incident, saying how Hill had no reason to block him given he was the last car on the lead lap. 

“He [Austin Hill] was last. He was the last car on the lead lap. He wasn’t going to gain anything. And I’m leading the race and they boxed me in and I’m like, it wasn’t very courteous for sure, but it’s like, it seems I don’t know why. I thought it would just be common sense for driver spotter and crew chief to if someone is racing for the lead, don’t you know, and you are racing for nothing. You are last, you’re the last car. Let the guy leave before you know if it’s going to be close,” the#11 driver said.

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But the final nail in the coffin was the intervention by Ryan Preece. As Preece struggled to find his pit stall, Hamlin was forced to slow down, losing him seven precious positions. He was in the third position here and saw his victory slip through his fingers! At that moment of frustration, he let out a comment, “Son of a b***h …man.” While his remark on Preece is not justified, one can understand his frustrations. Earlier this year, he described his situation by saying, “It’s just been bad luck, honestly. I am the black cat of death. I’m (expletive) cursed.” 

However, this is not the only controversy surrounding Hamlin this week. Apart from on-track issues, his remarks on the finish line too caught major attention. 

Denny Hamlin urges NASCAR to get better cameras

“Upgrade the cameras,” this is what Denny Hamlin suggested to NASCAR! The finish at Kansas undoubtedly will go down in history but one has to admit, the image quality is poor. 

In his podcast Actions Detrimental, Hamlin argued that given the position of Larson on the track, it was difficult to decide who won the race. He even thought NASCAR should have taken more time to make the decision. He said, “I agree we should upgrade the camera slightly. I think you could have said too close to call. It should have taken longer to [decide the winner] because first thing is how do they call that? … Since the 5 [Larson] is on the banking, there’s a reflection on the front of that splitter that is blurred forward…”

Although he did clarify that NASCAR got it right, he mentioned there’s no harm in upgrading the cameras. He stressed the fact that these photos pass around social media and that getting clearer shots for the purpose is worth the investment.

Denny Hamlin has been a trailblazer not just on track but also in expressing his views staunchly. We do hope the question of, “Will Hamlin win it this time around” just stops with the end of the season. 

What do you think, will he win the championship this year?