Denny Hamlin weighs in on Sonoma track re-pave after public back and forth with track owner Marcus Smith
After Denny Hamlin’s heated exchange on social media with Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith earlier this year, the NASCAR Cup Series is finally returning to the site of the track that started the argument in Sonoma Raceway.
Hamlin called out Smith and Speedway Motorsports for their repave of Sonoma Raceway earlier this season, and it led to both men apologizing for their actions. It was a surprisingly fervid exchange, but it’s returned to the spotlight with NASCAR’s trip to the road course for 2024.
During their original exchange, Smith even got personal with Hamlin’s racing accolades, “Your negative comments would carry a lot more weight if you had a championship to back them up,” he responded at one point.
Alas, it wasn’t a proud moment for either Smith or Hamlin, but FOX’s Bob Pockrass once again wanted to hear Hamlin’s thoughts on the repave, and the No. 11 wheelman obliged while speaking with the media.
“There’s definitely a lot of patches on it, but everything looked pretty smooth,” Hamlin stated, regarding the repave. “I haven’t noticed any part of the track that you could feel patches.
“Certainly you can see them, but you can’t feel them, so overall I think it ended up a net pretty good result, considering all the extra work they had to put into it.”
Perhaps the repave was more of an aesthetic problem than a racing one, and Hamlin recognizes that now. However, he’s not sure it’ll hold up throughout an entire race, but he relented that he’s no expert in that department either.
“I mean, I’m not sure about that,” Hamlin added. “I’m no expert in it, by any means, but definitely, these cars will test it, more than any other series that comes here. So, we’ll certainly know.
“We’ve got three hot days in a row, you know, for this area, and we’ve got big, heavy cars. That’s going to push this track to the limit, for sure.”
It seems as if Hamlin learned from his earlier spat with Smith. He’s watching his words, careful not to say anything damning about the repave. Still, he has his opinions, and Hamlin still delivered a solid answer when pressed about the way Sonoma is racing at the moment.
Similar to Denny Hamlin, fans of NASCAR are in wait-and-see mode for this weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway. Marcus Smith is certainly confident the repave will hold up, but it remains to be seen how the track races over the course of a full Cup Series afternoon.