Denny Hamlin tears into other drivers for 'dumbass racing' after Daytona 500 drama

Denny Hamlin has had enough of young NASCAR drivers who make costly mistakes at the end of races. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin called out other drivers after being involved in a last-lap wreck at the Daytona 500.

“My favorite quote from Moneyball is that ‘When the competition’s making a mistake, don’t interrupt them,'” Hamlin said. “But I’m here trying to interrupt them and say you don’t have to do it this way. …Because now it’s affecting me. I’m tired of getting taken out by just stupid moves that we chalk up to that’s just superspeedway racing. It’s because people are afraid to call out what they see. It’s not just superspeedway racing, it’s dumbass racing.”

Denny Hamlin was battling Austin Cindric for the lead on Sunday but both were taken out due to a wreck, leading to William Byron winning the Daytona 500. After the race, Hamlin blamed Cole Custer for the wreck.

Denny Hamlin got taken out in the final lap of the Daytona 500

“I thought we were in a great spot many times in the last 10 laps,” Hamlin told FOX Sports. “I appreciate National Debt Relief coming on and giving them a great ride. We didn’t have the caution on the first front straightaway spin, and I was like ‘Well, that’s the second lease on life to try to get the 2 (Austin Cindric).’ So I measured up the 2, got a run on him, and stayed with him enough to where I could kinda control what side I wanted to pass him on. And then we had pulled away from the pack slightly, so I knew a run was gonna come.”

Hamlin continued, “The 41(Custer) had the run and I chose not to block him. In these races, you gotta live to make it off of turn 4 and we just didn’t. I thought that the 41 came down. I’m pushing the 2 down as low as I can, giving the 41 all the space and not stopping his run. I thought he steered left and was trying to crowd it. I understand everyone’s trying to go for it, and he’s going for it. All of us are. But in those situations, we gotta get off of 4, then we can do this. But we just never made it and someone else won.”

Hamlin earned a P24 finish at the Daytona 500. He was looking to win “The Great American Race” for the fourth time in his career as he earned first-place finishes in 2016, 2019 and 2020.