The Dover weekend was special for Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was focused on clinching his third win at the Monster Mile. He faced a 56-minute red flag for rain, late-race strategy decisions, and a pair of overtime restarts. He also had relentless rivals on his heels. Yet Hamlin soared to victory with a 0.310-second margin – and he attributes it to his will to win, and not his Saturday activity.
Immediately before the Cup Series race, the BetRivers 200 race unfolded at Dover. The prediction models focused on a handful of names to succeed in the Xfinity Series race. And they were resoundingly correct as Connor Zilisch won again. This monotonous storyline left an uninspiring taste in Hamlin’s mouth.
Denny Hamlin shrugs at his off-track duty
The 58-time Cup Series race winner had a unique task over the weekend. Besides his racetrack duties, Denny Hamlin is used to delivering commentary in a relaxed way. He is the co-host of ‘Actions Detrimental’, a wildly popular show in NASCAR. For Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, however, The CW tapped his statesman qualities for a different job. As part of their rotating broadcast booth, inviting multiple Cup Series stars, they invited Hamlin for the Dover race. However, there was not much to cover in the event, as Zilisch led 77 laps en route to his 5th Xfinity victory. What is more, NASCAR had to call the race off after 134 laps due to inclement weather.
Denny Hamlin was candid when asked about his broadcast experience. After defending his Dover crown at the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400, that event seemed like a distant memory in his mind. Hamlin said, “Did I learn anything from yesterday? I don’t think so…I typically, probably I would learn more if I was able to sit in my bus and just concentrate on where I’m looking at. I’ve got lap times that are sitting right there, so I can study that. But in the booth, you’re like, ‘Okay, who’s talking next…Hey, you know, they’re in your ear. After this, we gotta go do that.’ And like, so it’s kind of a little bit distracting. So I don’t know that it’s a big advantage to be doing any of that.”
Although Denny Hamlin could not glean any inspiration from the race, he admitted to liking his new duty. He continued, “That was fun. I mean, I hadn’t done it in a few years.” Indeed, this was not the first time Hamlin took up the microphone. During a 2017 Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway, FOX Sports featured a drivers-only broadcast. Hamlin occupied the Hollywood Hotel mobile studio alongside Danica Patrick. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick had play-by-play broadcast duties with Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer. Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr were pit reporters.
As fun as that sounds, Denny Hamlin probably did not find a lot of interest. The same goes for his 2025 broadcast duty, especially because he has a greater concern to worry about.
Solid competition in his own team
At this time last year, Chase Briscoe was still grappling with his career. Stewart-Haas Racing had announced the shuttering of its gates after 16 long years, and Briscoe was left without a job. However, Joe Gibbs saw his potential and pulled him into his team, even though it meant shifting from Ford to Toyota. Briscoe took some time to adapt – but when he did, he went all in. He has already clinched his first JGR victory at Pocono Raceway. In Dover this Sunday, Briscoe pushed Hamlin on that final two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. After Christopher Bell could not fight Hamlin’s charge anymore, the No. 19 stayed door-to-door with Hamlin’s No. 11.
Eventually, Denny Hamlin was able to pull through and clear Chase Briscoe‘s car. Nevertheless, the JGR veteran could not help but gasp at his rival’s prowess. He said post-race, “It is so hard..We definitely had the oldest tires in the field those last few restarts, but got good restarts. The last one – Chase [Briscoe] actually did an amazing job, holding right there with me. Made me really nervous that he was going to clear me off of [Turn 2]. But man, we fought back. I love that we didn’t let this one slip away. This one would have hurt.”
Clearly, Denny Hamlin knows where his focus is. Although it is not in the broadcast booth, it certainly is in his racetrack duties.
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