Ask Tony Stewart or Kyle Busch, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Kevin might be known as ‘Happy’ for his demeanor off the track but he was a fierce competitor on the track, who would not give you one inch of asphalt if he could help it. And that’s what Denny Hamlin found out at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, back in 2019.
“I just told him [Hamlin] we were leaving on a tow truck or winning the race today,” Harvick said after he won the duel with Hamlin on the final lap of New Hampshire. Hamlin had to settle for a second-place finish at the 2019 2019 Foxwoods Resort Casino 301.
Cut to 2025 and when the Shriners Children’s 500 unfolded, Denny Hamlin received an uncanny resemblance to his failed attempt against Harvick.
Last weekend, at Phoenix Raceway, Christopher Bell achieved the historic three-peat after beating his teammate Hamlin by a mere 0.049 seconds. Hamlin, who took the outside line against Bell, had a deja vu of his battle with Harvick at New Hampshire in 2019, where he was beaten in the same way.
“It’s hard. I did the same mistake with Harvick at New Hampshire. Like.. such an idiot. I wish I would just do things differently in the moment, but it’s so hard when you’re in the moment, but I come off a turn two, underneath him and I let off,” Hamlin said, talking with Jared Allen, talking about the New Hampshire incident. “I didn’t learn my lesson the first time,” said Hamlin, talking about the parallels between the races.
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Practice Feb 12, 2025 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin 11 during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach Daytona International Speedway Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 20250212_mjr_su5_166
During the Shriners Children’s 500, Bell took advantage of the #11 taking the high line into the final corner. In a desperate move, he raced his teammate hard, pushing him farther into the outside and forcing him to lose momentum. Ultimately, it was enough to give Bell a 0.049-second advantage at the checkered flag. It was eerily similar to Hamlin’s finish with Harvick, which coincidentally took place at another 1-mile circuit.
Back in 2019 at New Hampshire, Hamlin chose the outside line, despite sniffing down Harvick’s inside line initially. Just as they approached the final stretch, Harvick closed the door on a move around the outside and left Hamlin firmly in second place.
Keeping his head held high, Hamlin was not one to be disappointed in the post-race interviews. “I’m kind of watching it back right now. I mean, yeah, I just I wanted to just tap him there, but I didn’t want to completely screw him. I at least wanted to give him a fair shot there. Down the backstretch, I kind of let off, and I’m like, all right, well, I’ll just pass him on the outside and kind of do this thing the right way, and once I had that big run, he just turned right. But I would do the same thing. It was a fun race, and congratulations to him and his team. They made a great call there at the end.”
Ultimately, it was as if Denny Hamlin’s words echoed through time because when he talked about racing Christopher Bell to the line at Phoenix, he had something similar to say. “Do I wish we would have raced in the corner side-by-side and see who could get the best run-off? Absolutely. But I don’t think he was going to win that way. I think that his best opportunity at the moment – being that I had the outside – was to try to slow my momentum by getting me up the racetrack. And it worked perfectly.”
As Hamlin deals with the loss to Bell at Phoenix and the eerie similarity and deja-vu from New Hampshire, a new story is developing in the NASCAR world, and it involves not Hamlin the driver, but Hamlin, the team-owner.
Troubled Times Ahead for Denny Hamlin
Despite not winning a single race this season, as a driver or team owner, there is still hope for Hamlin as Tyler Reddick, his driver from 23XI Racing, shows such potential, including two podiums, one at Daytona and one in COTA. However, for 23XI Racing, the problems are just beginning as they face a new lawsuit from NASCAR that can derail their focus and resources.
As the lawsuit turned a new corner, NASCAR accused Curtis Polk, manager to Michael Jordan and a key member of the 23XI fold, of conspiring with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The court documents said, “Polk, 23XI, Front Row and their co-conspirators agreed to attempt to interfere with NASCAR’s media rights negotiations in order to extract even better terms under the 2025 Charter.
Hamlin, talking about the lawsuit against his team, said, “Certainly, I was very surprised to hear some of the accusations that were said. All I can really tell you is that I’ve been in business now with Curtis (Polk) for five years. The guy is one of the most respected businessmen in all of sports. He’s been in the business in multiple sports. He helped us build this race team into a championship calibre team by year five, which is what our goal was.”
As the legal battle heads towards a trial late this year in December, the outcome of this lawsuit can determine the team’s future and the future landscape of NASCAR. The question on everyone’s mind is, what’s next for Denny Hamlin and 23XI Racing?
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