Denny Hamlin sums up disappointing Daytona 500 finish in two-word social media post

Denny Hamlin had two words to describe his finish at the Daytona 500 on Sunday. The 44-year-old went to X/Twitter to share his reaction to being involved in a wreck during the final lap of “The Great American Race.”

“That sucked,” Hamlin wrote in the post.

It looked like Hamlin had a chance to win as he and Austin Cindric battled for the lead. But a wreck led to Hamlin finishing 24th, and William Byron won the Daytona 500 for the second consecutive year.

After the race, Hamlin spoke to reporters about NASCAR not throwing the caution flag after the wreck. “I need to see the other wrecks, but I knew they were wrecking,” he said. “We were surprised we kept going. Once I realized that they were not going to throw the yellow, all I focused on then was let me get a run on this 2 (Austin Cindric) and get beside him and win this race. Apparently, I think they went green all the way to the checkered. I was destroyed.”

Denny Hamlin explains what the Daytona 500 means to him

Hamlin then predicted NASCAR’s next move following the incident. “They’ll react. When they feel like they get trashed socially on a call, then they’ll go the other way on the next one,” Hamlin said. “Either way, we weren’t going to win, so I don’t care.”

Denny Hamlin has had a lot of success at Daytona International Speedway as he’s won the Daytona 500 three times. During the Daytona 500 media day this past week, Hamlin was asked what the race meant to him.

“For me, I try to tell people that we tell people that we try so hard when we are kids, we are trying to get to the highest form of motorsports, but to win its biggest race is one of the things that we aspire to do,” he said. “To have done it three times is certainly special. If any of you have the question on what will the fourth mean, I can’t answer that. I tried to figure out what it would mean to win one, and I didn’t have any idea until I won one, and I didn’t have any idea, until after I won two, what two meant. It is all really, really hard to put into words – but the attention when you come back, you are in an elite class of drivers that have won this multiple times. It is just one of those things that stays on your resume forever.”