Denny Hamlin compares Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief James Small to a married couple

Denny Hamlin made a hilarious comparison between his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. and his crew chief James Small.

The duo are stars on the radio week-in and week-out, and Hamlin recognizes that, comparing Truex and Small to a married couple during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast.

“I saw a clip on NASCAR’s Twitter, but I didn’t open it. It said like, ‘This duo,’ and had a laughing-emoji. … James is a pretty soft-spoken individual. He’s very soft-spoken. Truex is not shy about saying, ‘I can’t f—ing hear you. I can’t understand you.’ You know, and for him to be an accent and soft-spoken, it’s — and Truex is not shy about calling out both. It’s just, it’s laughable. It’s funny. It’s funny because it’s not me. It’s not my situation, that’s going on,” Hamlin joked. “But they are a married couple, for sure. They’ve got that kind of relationship.

“They’re alright with giving each other s— about stuff that others aren’t comfortable with. It’s just banter amongst teammates.”

That’s been part of the reason why Truex and Small have been so successful in 2023, even if it’s been a tough Playoffs for the No. 19. Time will tell if they can right the ship, but Denny Hamlin and his JGR teammate will both be looking for a win come Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead.

More on 4EVER 400, odds for NASCAR at Homestead

Meanwhile, as we look through the odds for the 4EVER 400 at Homestead this weekend, the NASCAR Playoffs drivers are favored above the ones who aren’t in it, with one exception. These are arguably the best eight drivers in the Cup Series. We’re not sure anyone in our playoff field is a “Cinderella.” 

Denny Hamlin is listed at 7-1 odds for the Homestead-Miami race. Let’s not forget that Hamlin has started on the pole six times at Homestead. Then again, he only actually qualified for three of those. Still, he has the most active pole awards of any driver at this track. 

Coming up next is six-time race winner this season, William Byron. He has the most wins and is looking to add another this weekend. 15-2 odds for Byron. That puts him just ahead of Kyle Busch at 14-1 odds. 

Christopher Bell is listed at 14-1 odds. The dirt racer gave Kyle Larson a good race at the end of the Las Vegas South Point 400. It just wasn’t enough. Bell doesn’t do as well as his dirt peers, Reddick and Larson. 

Ross Chastain enters the odds at 16-1. He is just ahead of our final playoff driver, fresh off his DQ and then non-DQ – Ryan Blaney. Blaney at 18-1 odds will have an uphill battle against these other playoff drivers. Now that he has his points back, he does have a path to the Championship 4 besides winning.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.