Denny Hamlin embracing his villain role in NASCAR, believes fans are coming around on him

Denny Hamlin proudly waved an “11 against the world” flag after his dominant victory in Sunday’s race at Martinsville. The flag was a nod to Ohio State football but funny enough, a good chunk of the fans in attendance were actually cheering Hamlin even though he beat their favorite driver.

Hours earlier, when Hamlin came out for pre-race introductions, he was heavily booed. The reaction when he won was quite different, perhaps something he wasn’t expecting. Hamlin discussed the moment on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“I feel like the fans cheered more,” Hamlin said. “… That’s what makes me so excited because there was a lot of boos in pre-race during the intros. But like, what do you got to boo now? I just beat your favorite driver again. It killed me not to say it but that’s what I love is being able to silence those people and give them the ol’ shh, it’s night night time.”

Denny Hamlin schools the field at Martinsville

The 44-year-old led 274-of-400 laps, winning his 55th Cup Series race and first at Martinsville since 2015. It was Hamlin’s first victory since last April at Dover and on top of that, win No. 1 for Chris Gayle atop the pit box for the No. 11 team. Hamlin has a feeling the reaction from the Martinsville crowd would have been different had he finished elsewhere.

“If I would have finished second or third and bumped [Kyle] Larson or Chase Elliott, I would have had the golf cart ride to the motorhome lot, ‘F*** you, you f***ing suck,'” Hamlin said. “… It’s fair. When you have a fandom towards a certain driver, you don’t have a responsibility to like anyone else. If that driver beats your guy or maybe knocks them out of the way like I’ve done a few times to a few people, I understand where all that comes from.”

Hamlin is NASCAR‘s Razor Ramon. It’s a role he embraces.

“I’m willing to take it and understand that there’s a role in that in our sport,” Hamlin said. “I feel like it’s played into what feeds my inner passion and competition in my soul. I appreciate the fans and their passion both good and bad.”