Denny Hamlin advocates practice before Daytona 500 instead of Busch Light Clash citing "better use of NASCAR resources"

NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin has become a naysayer of the Busch Light Clash race mere days after winning the event.

Joe Gibbs Racing stalwart Denny Hamlin kicked off his 2024 campaign on a high as he raced to victory in the Busch Light Clash race at LA Memorial Coliseum. The 43-year-old started his race from pole position, and after faltering his initial lead to teammate Ty Gibbs, found his way back to the top with 10 laps to go, to seal the fourth Busch Light victory of his career.

However, not long after the race, Hamlin took to his Actions Detrimental podcast, where he opposed the concept of Busch Light Clash, and instead, advocated for NASCAR practice races before the Cup Series season-opening race, the Daytona 500. He said:

"I gave my opinion on the financials. I think it should pay as much as a normal race. That would make me more open to go anywhere as far as that's concerned."

"We mentioned on the podcast last week, when you took it from Daytona, it took away from the storylines a little bit. There was always a correlation of the person that wins at Clash, or the person who looks strong or leads the Clash at Daytona, they're gonna be the ones to beat for the Daytona 500."

Denny Hamlin expressed dismay over the current uncertainty surrounding car speeds due to limited practice opportunities. He added:

"I'd probably vote that we did not have the Clash and we run more practice before the 500. I think that's a better use of resources. I think that's a better build up for the Daytona 500."

---

Denny Hamlin dissects the financial burden of Busch Light Clash as a team owner

Hamlin, besides racing for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, also co-owns Cup Series outfit 23XI Racing. As a team owner, he questioned the viability of the current model, emphasizing the need for prudent resource allocation. He stated (via the Actions Detrimental podcast):

"There's no way I want to go tear up multiple cars at 23XI financially. The old model just doesn't work. The show costs too much money for us to go tear up a bunch of cars."

Denny Hamlin suggested redirecting investments towards enhancing the infrastructure of short tracks. At the same time, he recognized the challenges of balancing financial investments with tangible returns for NASCAR. The JGR driver added:

"The popular suggestion is to invest in the infrastructure of the short tracks. Say you went to a short track, go spend some money on it, making sure that the facility is a little bit nicer. And then you get to highlight some local short tracks."

"That's great in theory, but there's just financials there that I think NASCAR is going to be apprehensive to just spend money to help someone else out and not reap benefits from it. I don't know whether that would work. I don't know what the right answer is. I wish there was an easier answer to it."