Denny Hamlin reveals what was on notepad Chase Elliott returned to him
A viral highlight came out of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Indianapolis last weekend, when Chase Elliott returned a loose notepad to Denny Hamlin on pit road.
Instead of taking the notepad and using it to their advantage, Elliott, who hasn’t always seen eye to eye with Hamlin, returned it to the No. 11 wheelman. While it had nothing to do with his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, the notepad was a key piece of information pertaining to the 23XI Racing team.
During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin went into the specifics, revealing what was on the notepad Elliott returned to him.
“A bunch of words and numbers,” Hamlin said, declining to get into specifics of what was actually on the sheet, revealing it was important. “… He could’ve put it right there in his pocket, and handed it to his crew chief and engineers, and said, ‘Here’s what the No. 45 is doing.’ … It was the car chief’s notepad. … It had pages. … I heard they were giving him s— in the hauler about dropping it.”
Even though it had nothing to do with Hamlin, Elliott still gets some good guy points for returning the notepad, without hesitation. Continuing, Hamlin added some more color on the situation, and how it could’ve worked against Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 team if Elliott didn’t return it.
“You would hate to take something and then it would turn out to be, like, useless. Then you would feel bad, and you’re like, ‘F—, I should’ve just given this to him.’ But, I mean, listen, it was enough stuff to where I was like, I don’t know. I don’t truly know what it means. He likely wouldn’t know what it means, but somebody would know what it means,” Hamlin added. “… Like, it’s not, it wasn’t our setup, like our setups on there. It’s just like, you know, probably practice adjustments or something like that, I don’t know.
“… Chase was like, trying to identify who it came from. And then he saw the No. 45 guys running towards the car after their qualifying lap. So, I think he just saw me, and he was like, there’s the closest 23XI person that I know.”
Perhaps Denny Hamlin, and the 23XI Racing team, owes Chase Elliott a bit for his good deed. We’ll see if he ever receives a gift in return, even if returning the notepad was simply done out of the goodness of the former NASCAR Cup Series champion’s heart.