Denny Hamlin addresses 23XI Racing lawsuit vs. NASCAR, mindset while racing

Today is the first day since the 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports lawsuit was announced and Denny Hamlin is answering questions. The NASCAR driver and team owner has helped send the sport into a frenzy.

With NASCAR facing an antitrust lawsuit from 23XI and Front Row, things are uneasy in the sport. Still, the show must go on. Right now, the NASCAR Playoffs are in full swing.

During his first presser since the lawsuit, Denny Hamlin spoke candidly about it. While he understands some skepticism, he wants to make a positive change. He even talked about a conversation he had recently with Michael Jordan.

“But you know in the end it’s because you’re threatening you know, the status quo and you’re threatening people’s jobs and things like that. And I just hope that it’s not seen that way, just seeing that, you know this is certainly an opportunity for us to try to promote change in the sport that’s positive for everyone.”

“That’s teams, drivers, fans, everyone. And so I feel like certainly on our end it’s actually been good for me because this, you know, this is not like we just decided one day, we woke up and this is going to happen. This has been on the plate for a while and certainly from my standpoint it allows me actually more relief to focus on the 11 car and you know everything I’ve got to do there because it’s out it’s done and now there’s other people able to speak on it from the legality standpoint.”

Denny Hamlin is still focused on racing.

Denny Hamlin addresses chaos of lawsuit amid playoffs

Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that Denny Hamlin has a lot going on. He can say that he is focused on racing the 11 car. But this lawsuit is going to be in the news for months if not even a couple of years.

When asked about the chaos of it all, Hamlin was honest.

“Yeah I would say that it’s pretty similar if it was kind of personal issues. … If it was personal issues in the past or rivalries with other drivers, that always takes a certain amount of time of your mental focus, right? But I’ve also always been one of those who doesn’t want to be consumed with this 24 hours a day. Like the driving aspect of it. I would get burnt out if I raced as much as Kyle Larson or Kyle Busch. That’s just not my style of coming out here and competing.

“Make no mistake. The competitor in me, you don’t think that I want to come out here and win this weekend more than any? Like, that’s what I fuel myself on is making the 18-foot putt on 18 to win the Masters. Like I live for those moments. So certainly anyone who knows me personally will tell you that in these moments, I typically will get more out of Denny in those moments because I hate to lose and certainly will not justify any excuses to losing.”

Denny Hamlin is A11-In as he has said this year. This could be his last best chance to win the Bill France Cup. Lawsuit aside, there is work to be done. This Sunday at Talladega, next week at the Roval – then it is (hopefully) onto the next one.

Do you think Hamlin is locked in as he says?