Denny Hamlin is going to retire his 'I beat your favorite driver' phrase after text from dad

Denny Hamlin captured the checkered flag in the first NASCAR event of the season during the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.

Afterwards, Hamlin brought back his ‘I beat your favorite driver’ line, this time adding ‘again’ to the end of it, referencing what he said last season after some vicious booing took over his post-win interview. Many have theorized it’ll become Hamlin’s signature, similar to Kyle Busch’s bow and Carl Edwards’ backflip.

Not so fast. During his latest Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin revealed he’s actually retiring the phrase, but he has a good reason for doing so.

“So I gave them the, ‘I beat your favorite driver,’ again. Which, breaking news, I always say that at least once in every podcast, I’m going to have to retire it. I’m going to retire the, ‘I beat all your favorite drivers,’ because I got a text, and those of you (that) saw the Netflix special, with my dad. He sent me a text and he said, ‘Son, you’ve got to stop that. I don’t like it. It’s just too cocky.’ I’m going to listen to dad on this one. So we’re going to retire it,” Hamlin explained. “That’s the last time I think — jokes are always funnier the first time you say it, not the second or third or whatever anyway. So we’ll come up with something new next time around.

“But ‘I beat your favorite driver, all of them,’ is officially going to go down in the history books. It’s done.”

Your parents usually know best, so Hamlin is smart for listening to his dad, who became one of the stars of the NASCAR-Netflix series that was released last week. Now, we’ll have to wait and see what Hamlin comes up with next.

We’re sure we won’t have to wait long, especially with Denny Hamlin’s track-record as of late. Perhaps we’ll find out as soon as the Daytona 500, where Hamlin has excelled over the course of his career.

More on Denny Hamlin, Busch Light Clash Win

Moreover, we expected to see practice, Last Chance Qualifiers, and the Heat races over the weekend. Well, we didn’t get any of that. Instead, NASCAR did what many believed impossible and moved the race up. This was done to avoid the catastrophic weather that hit California on Sunday. 

Denny Hamlin likes to win these important NASCAR events. Crown jewel races, special events like the Clash – those are what Hamlin does better than most. He has made a hell of a career off of winning these things multiple times. 

Hamlin’s pole and race win are a sign of things to come. Not just for him but Toyota as a whole. The manufacturer was strong tonight on the shortest track of the season. The new Camry XSE proved to be just as good if not better than the previous TRD. 

So, Hamlin has four wins in the Busch Light Clash. Is he set to add his fourth Daytona 500 this year as well? In two weeks, we will be talking about The Great American Race. That is when NASCAR will start the season in earnest. 

On the heels of the NASCAR: Full Speed success, where Denny Hamlin starred for most of the series, this is great. New fans are going to see Hamlin is a real star in the sport and might be interested to watch and see if he can earn himself a championship in 2024. 

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.