Denny Hamlin Calls Out NASCAR With ‘Not Relevant’ Verdict After Season Finale

Getty

Denny Hamlin calls out NASCAR as “not relevant to the mainstream” following the season finale, raising questions about the sport's popularity and broader appeal.

Denny Hamlin says NASCAR’s biggest problem is not its car or its playoff format, but its continued existence as a niche sport outside the mainstream.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said on Tuesday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that NASCAR has grown comfortable with a small audience, four days after CEO Steve O’Donnell told reporters at Homestead-Miami Speedway that the sport has momentum.

“I think the sport’s biggest problem is relevancy. I don’t think it’s the car. I don’t think it’s the playoff format,” Hamlin said on the podcast. “I think it’s that we are not relevant enough to the mainstream. We are a niche, and we are OK with being a niche. We need to be part of the culture, not just a sport that you watch on Sunday.”

Hamlin Targets NASCAR’s ‘Niche’ Problem

Co-host Jared Allen noted that fans often blame the car’s aerodynamics or the schedule.

“Those things matter to the hard-core fan, but they don’t matter to the guy who isn’t watching,” Hamlin said. “That guy wants to know why he should care. He wants a story. He wants a villain. He wants a hero. He wants to know why Kyle Larson is better than everyone else. We have to tell the story of the athletes better. We have to show their personalities, their rivalries, their lives. That’s how you bring in new fans.”

Allen asked whether NASCAR’s Netflix series is helping.

“It’s a start. It gives people a glimpse into the human side of the drivers,” Hamlin said. “But it needs to be more than just one series. It needs to be the broadcast. It needs to be the way we present the sport.”

The discussion later turned to television partners.

“There is absolutely no way I would sign a TV partner, no matter how much they paid, unless they had a very specific way of how they’re going to promote the sport,” Hamlin said. He called that plan “far more important than any check that they write to you.”

NASCAR’s promotions mostly reach the roughly 1.2 million viewers already watching its own channels, Hamlin said. “You got to go get the others,” he said. “I just don’t think we can continue to rinse and repeat.”

Read More From Heavy

NASCAR’s Denny Hamlin Delivers Blunt Response to Scary Talladega Crash

Hamlin Finishes 2026 Third in Cup Standings

Hamlin spoke two days after Kyle Larson clinched his third Cup title at Homestead-Miami, a second straight championship. Hamlin finished third in the final standings, with a series-leading 24 top-10s and four victories.

He won at Las Vegas in March, then took the non-points All-Star Race at Dover in May. In June came his first three-race winning streak, straight wins at Nashville, Michigan and Pocono. The Pocono victory was his 64th, moving him to ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

Hamlin entered the Chase as the No. 1 seed, 25 points ahead of Ryan Blaney, but again failed to win. He finished 18th in the Southern 500 opener and started from the pole at Martinsville but came home sixth, trailing Larson by 70 points.

“I think the year has definitely been a success. People would die to have a season like I’ve had this year,” Hamlin said, according to Racer in late October.

Hamlin, 45, was born in Tampa, Florida, and grew up in Chesterfield, Virginia, where he was racing go-karts by age 7. He signed a development deal with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2004 and won Rookie of the Year in 2006.

He is a three-time Daytona 500 winner who co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, a team that won this year’s Daytona 500 with Tyler Reddick. Hamlin holds the record for most Cup wins without a championship and intends to retire from full-time Cup racing after 2027.

Read More From Heavy

Denny Hamlin Doesn’t Hold Back After NASCAR Phoenix Tire Incident