Denny Hamlin: Daytona 500, superspeedway racing is game of luck now

Denny Hamlin sounded off on the state of superspeedway racing during Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

Hamlin, speaking in the aftermath of Sunday’s Daytona 500, lamented how much luck played a role in William Byron‘s victory and how much it’s affecting NASCAR as a whole.

“Times have changed and I find myself in this position where it’s like are we now gonna start viewing the Daytona 500 winners like we question our champions?” Hamlin said. “It’s just a bunch of questions now. Yeah, but. It’s always a yeah, but. And I hate that for the winners because this is their big moment to shine and it’s a big accomplishment. But I hate the fact of how much luck is involved in NASCAR now. I used to hate the word luck, and it was so overused in our sport for decades. Before the Next Gen came along, people would talk about oh luck, and they still do.

“NASCAR media overuses the word luck so much, they always have. And it’s like no, you gotta put yourself in the position to not capitalize on others misfortunes — that’s luck, like you needed them to have misfortune for you to win — that is luck. But it’s making the moves at the end of the race to win, and it’s that wow, that guy just did something that’s hard to do, it shows that he’s better than the rest of them. I feel like we’ve just lost that. It’s just a matter of wrecks at superspeedways.”

Denny Hamlin takes aim at current state of superspeedway racing

Byron was riding along in seventh during the final lap of overtime and didn’t appear to have much of a shot at winning. But then, Cole Custer went for it. Custer went to the outside of Hamlin, the race leader, and made contact with him, triggering a multi-car wreck. The seas parted for Byron, who escaped through the carnage to take the checkered flag.

It was the third wreck in the last 15 laps, all of which were multi-car pileups. Six of the last eight Daytona 500s have gone to overtime, and three of the last five finished under caution. Hamlin feels the sport has become more entertainment-based — and not for the better.

“I feel like the Daytona 500 is a microcosm of the sport in general as to how we crown our champion now as well,” Hamlin said. “It started with the competition group a decade ago when we took away horsepower because we wanted to look good on TV, we wanted you to think they can pass, but not that they can actually pass. For me, it’s gotten to the place where the entertainment of it has far taken over the sport of it. And I don’t know how to reverse things.”