Not gonna lie, I’m kind of enjoying Denny After Dark.
Denny Hamlin has made it pretty clear that he has no problem playing the villain in NASCAR these days. And that means taking on some of the most powerful people in the sport.
It all started last night when Denny commented on a post about holes that have already developed in the asphalt at the newly-repaved Sonoma Raceway:
NWB is referring to North Wilkesboro Speedway, home of the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race that’s getting a repave ahead of the race.
Well Sonoma and North Wilkesboro are both owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC, the company led by Marcus Smith that also owns tracks like Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, among others.
And Smith didn’t take too kindly to Hamlin’s shot at his company’s paving job.
The track owner fired back at Hamlin in a since-deleted tweet:
“This is a great post from somebody who doesn’t know all the information. Ignorance on display for the world to see!
(I will delete this tweet when Denny Hamlin sends me a text or gives me a call directly to ask why this is happening.)”
But Hamlin wasn’t done, and took another shot at Smith and his company’s record of reconfiguring tracks – notably at Texas Motor Speedway, where the racing has been less than stellar since it was reconfigured:
“You don’t need to delete. We’ve seen your reconfig record.”
Smith then responded again, this time taking a shot at Hamlin’s notable lack of a Cup Series championship:
“Yes we take risks, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. We’ve seen your attempt of the championship as well. When you have a chance, maybe you could give me some golf tips.”
Ouch.
Hamlin then fired back, seemingly accusing Smith of being a “trust fund baby” and destroying the company that was founded by his father, Bruton Smith:
“Here’s your tip. Let someone else run your business before you blow everything your dad gave you.”
And Smith then replied:
“So proud of my dad! Hall of Famer! If he had a Twitter/X account, I don’t think his comments would be family friendly. So listen here, almost NASCAR Champion, you keep working at it and one day you’re gonna get a big trophy! Thanks for the tip!”
I mean, more of a personal shot than an answer to Hamlin’s criticism, but whatever.
Smith then followed it up with a more substantive response:
“Following up in my previous post, our team at Speedway Motorsports has an amazing track record for working to exceeded expectations. Your nonchalant post is insult to hundreds of people that are dedicated to exceeding expectations for the Racing community, and NASCAR fans around the world.
You’re a negative comments would carry a lot more weight if you had a championship to back them up. Good luck in your quest for 2024.”
Brutal back and forth.
But it seems that both men had cooled off by this morning, with Smith being the first to offer up an apology and delete his posts:
“Following up on my previous posts, I take a lot of pride in the dedication and hard work our teammates put forth to make NASCAR the very best it can be and I shouldn’t let social media conversations get personal, so I deleted those posts.
Denny Hamlin is a passionate driver and team owner and I’m truly looking forward to seeing him drive for a championship this year. Our team is working hard to fix some pavement issues at Sonoma and we will get it right. Let’s keep the positive momentum going in 2024!”
And Hamlin soon followed:
“I’ll cosign this. I’ll definitely take responsibility for my part in it. It got more personal than it should have for sure.”
Looks like cooler heads prevailed but man, it’s not often that you see such big names in the sport going at each other so publicly.
But then again, Denny Hamlin has proven lately that he has no problem being the villain.
