Denny Hamlin ignites outrage, claims NASCAR official attributes playoff criticism to 'bots'
Denny Hamlin had some interesting things to say when discussing his conversation with a NASCAR official about the playoffs. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin shared what Mike Forde, NASCAR Managing Director, Racing Communications, about people on social media calling out NASCAR for its playoff format.
“I said, ‘Man, this format is getting hammered on the internet.’ He’s like ‘It’s bots. It’s not real people,'” Hamlin said on the podcast. “I said, ‘Okay, you can turn a blind eye if you want, and you can be in denial, but numbers don’t lie, numbers never lie. The fact is that you’ve got some randomness to this thing.”
Hamlin went on to talk about Kyle Larson having a dominant year but will not compete for a Cup Series Championship. “You said in this season or when you decided this that you wanted to put an emphasis on winning. He’s won more races than anyone by a long way, and yet he is not part of the title fight,” Hamlin said. “Kevin Harvick won 10 races and didn’t get to race for a title. The format is broken, and if you disagree, you’re in denial.”
Denny Hamlin reacts to missing Championship 4
Larson won six races this year but did not win any of the three Round of 8 playoff races. Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney won the Round of 8 playoff races, and William Byron made it on points. Hamlin also mentioned Harvick who won nine races in 2020 and won the regular season championship. But he was eliminated in the Round of 8 after finishing 17th at Martinsville.
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Along with Larson, Hamlin won’t compete in the Championship 4 race after finishing fifth at the Martinsville race on Sunday. After the race, Hamlin was asked why he fell short of clinching a spot in the Championship 4.
“Just more speed, more capability,” Hamlin told FrontStretch. “I just felt like our balance was pretty good. We were just not fast enough to run with the other cars. Obviously, we struggled with speed today, and that was not ideal, but we just gotta get better.”