“Daddy, I’m sorry, but I beat your favorite driver, folks!” Denny Hamlin said this after winning in Michigan on 8th June. His iconic rebirth of this catchphrase sent an uproar of cheers and boos among fans. Yet little did he know that the NASCAR fanbase would break in uproar again by the end of June. But this time, Ty Dillon flipped the same quote back at Hamlin, “To all the Denny fans out there, I beat your favorite driver.” Yet Hamlin is totally chill with that.
Like a true statesman of the sport, Denny Hamlin heartily welcomed Ty Dillon dissing him. That is because the latter deserved it after last weekend’s Quaker State 400 race. What is more, Hamlin’s respect was reciprocated by Dillon in a unique way.
Ty Dillon acknowledged the best in the sport
NASCAR has been a spectator sport since its inception in 1949. Presently, nobody in the Cup Series garage probably grasps that concept better than Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing star has set trends not only in racecraft but also in his media presence. He welcomes boos from the grandstands and openly challenges his naysayers. What is more, Hamlin also has fun with it. After beating Kyle Larson and Co. during the 2023 playoff race in Bristol, Hamlin coined the iconic ‘I beat your driver’ phrase for the first time. Never mind the boos, but the sheer image of witnessing Hamlin defying thousands of detractors in national coverage – was enough for a section of fans and drivers to gain respect for him. Ultimately, that is what inspired Ty Dillon.
The Kaulig Racing driver was paired up with Denny Hamlin in the first race of the In-Season Tournament. As we saw, Hamlin got wiped out in a 23-car pile-up while Ty Dillon finished 8th. The latter made sure to jeer Hamlin, who accepted. In true camaraderie, Dillon admitted that he learned from the best: “I gotta give it to Denny because…I think he just understands…sees us as entertainers…It’s easy to get hyper-focused on your performance…But we are an entertainment sport. And I wanted to have fun with the fans too.” He continued about how excited he was: “We were determined to run our own race and beat him. And ended up doing so. From the moment I saw Denny as our head-to-head, I was sitting on that quote. Just waiting, hoping for the opportunity.”
.@KauligRacing‘s Ty Dillon upset Denny Hamlin as a No. 32 seed… and called him out afterwards!
“From the moment I saw Denny as our head-to-head, I was sitting on that quote. I’m just having fun with it.”
Full segment in FREE @BIGPLAY app: https://t.co/bSie9jpY4P pic.twitter.com/JUBGHlGMOp
— BIGPLAY Cleveland Show (@BIGPLAYCLEshow) July 1, 2025
In 2020, Ty Dillon had fetched a third-place finish in Talladega. So although Dillon fetched his first top-ten finish at Atlanta (another superspeedway), he already saw it coming. He simply made the most of his opportunity: “We’ve been really good at superspeedways…we were running 7th or 5th at Talladega, ran out of gas, didn’t get the finish we deserved there…I’d been watching the race Sunday morning from the previous year and I saw that Denny didn’t really have a solid race. But it’s hard to bet against that guy. He’s probably gonna end up being one of the betting favorites to win the championship…So you know what you’re up against, it’s gonna be a fight. I believe our chances even straight up, were beaten before the crash. Obviously, that helped our chances.”
Evidently, Ty Dillon and Denny Hamlin ended the Atlanta drama in true sportsman spirit. What is more, Dillon knew he had a good season coming even before it started.
Paving his own path to success
In the past, Ty Dillon did not fetch the most stellar race finishes. He holds a long winless skid since his last NASCAR National Series victory in an Xfinity Series race back in 2014. Dillon has driven full-time in the Cup Series since 2017 but with no win in sight. He returned as a full-timer in 2025, taking the No. 10 Chevrolet seat under Kaulig Racing after fetching three top 20 finishes as a part-timer in 2024. Despite the difficult career so far, Dillon wore his most optimistic outlook. He aimed to secure his first top-25 season finish by capitalizing on Kaulig’s substantial resources in 2025. With the help of his crew chief, Andrew Dickeson, and veteran teammate AJ Allmendinger, Dillon is on the right path.
What is more, Ty Dillon himself declared his bright intentions before the season began. “For me, you know, this is the best opportunity I’ve had in my career, being with Kaulig Racing. My goals are high. I got into this sport to want to win races in the Cup Series and compete, to be in the playoffs, and I know this is my best opportunity yet.” He spoke highly of Kaulig Racing, a top-contending team since 2021. “This is a team that has done that in the past. They’ve been to victory lane in this Cup Series in recent years. So, that’s something new for me to say that I’m a part of a team that’s actually won before me, you know, being a part of their team. So, I’m excited for that opportunity.”
Now, Kaulig Racing is more excited about Ty Dillon, especially after he beat Denny Hamlin. Let us see what Dillon will bring in the rest of the season.
The post Ty Dillon Shares Mutual Respect With Denny Hamlin After Massive Online Uproar appeared first on EssentiallySports.
