Denny Hamlin suggests public shaming, NASCAR penalties as remedies for Xfinity Series chaos

Denny Hamlin has some ideas on how to fix the current on-track product in the Xfinity Series after Saturday’s race at Martinsville drew widespread scrutiny. Hamlin suggested publicly shaming drivers who move their competitors out of the way in egregious fashion, as was seen multiple times in the US Marine Corps 250.

“I believe in my heart of hearts there’s only a few things you can do to change this. It’s sad to say, but I think public shaming is maybe some of it,” Hamlin said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast. “That’s not impressive to me. I own some cars in the Cup Series and if you think I’m ever gonna look at you just because you wiped a guy out and won, no. That doesn’t impress me at all. It just shows me immaturity.

“There’s been multiple opportunities for these guys to get to the finish in a somewhat respectful way. We’re not expecting these guys not to make contact. We’re not expecting them not to try to get the guy out of the groove. But coming from two car lengths back to wreck someone is just the most unimpressive thing I’ve seen.”

Contact was plentiful between drivers in Saturday’s race. In total, there were 102 caution laps. Only 11 Xfinity races have had more than 100 caution laps, according to Seth Eggert of Motorsports Reference. But perhaps nothing was more egregious than Sammy Smith‘s conduct on the final lap of the race.

Smith slammed into race-leader Taylor Gray on the final corner, taking them both out of contention and allowing Austin Hill to drive by to take the checkered flag. Smith slid across the start/finish line 10th, while Gray finished 29th. The two drivers exchanged words after the race and had to be separated before things turned physical. 

Denny Hamlin calls out Xfinity Series drivers for over the top aggression

Several NASCAR veterans such as Hamlin expressed their frustration with the lack of respect shown in Xfinity. FOX Sports commentator Mike Joy went as far as to call the race a “dumpster fire” during Sunday’s Cup Series broadcast.

Public shaming is just one part of Hamlin’s plan. He believes NASCAR should hand out penalties during the race to send a message to the rest of the field.

“In this instance, I truly believe NASCAR needs to step in and not on the ticky-tack stuff, I’m saying use your eyes and your brains. … There were three instances — the 21 [Hill] when he ended up wrecking the guys way in front of him, the one where Sam Mayer would just flat out not get off of [Christian] Eckes and then at the end of the race. Those are three easy penalties that are not even debatable,” Hamlin said.

“We’re not going to get into ticky-tack stuff. My opinion is if you penalize once, it at least gives guys a little bit of a pause to say, ‘If I send that guy to the back… I know I’m gonna have to go back there with him.’ You face the repercussions then.”