Denny Hamlin comes clean on his ‘losing love’ for NASCAR after the Daytona 500 fallout: “I don’t know how we reverse things”

Denny Hamlin has gotten real about his losing his love for NASCAR, as entertainment is gradually taking over the allure of actual stock car racing. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was on the verge of claiming his fourth Daytona 500 victory, however, his #11 Toyota Camry became the collateral damage to hard racing between Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe.

Following the 500-mile battle, Hamlin criticized the Daytona 500 racing, criticizing the media that shrugged off the guilty party's mistake by stating it as a general superspeedway mistake. The three-time Daytona 500 winner said that the drivers aren't held accountable these days, leading to them make "stupid" moves without thinking about repercussions.

This is Denny Hamlin's 20th NASCAR season and has witnessed how the sport has progressed through the decades, something he's very displeased about.

"The entertainment of it has far overtaken the sport of it and I don't know how we reverse things. You will hear all week from the media, 'that's just superspeedway racing,' and all that is, is a copout for those who make stupid moves. No one holds anyone accountable anymore," Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental (4:38).

The 54-time Cup Series race winner expressed his dying love for the sport as the focus has shifted to providing entertainment over actual racing.

"How about we actually call out what it is, are the cars making us do this? Are the drivers doing this? It's a combination of both, I believe. But, I'm losing my love of just the sport of it, because I feel like it's going by the wayside for the sake of entertainment."

Hamlin could've opened the 2025 season on a high, but the last-lap chaos ended with him in 24th place.

Denny Hamlin opens up on the unwanted side of William Byron's Daytona 500 victory

Amid the chaos, William Byron's #24 Chevrolet capitalized on the wreck fest and snuck through the top lane to claim its second consecutive Daytona 500 victory. But it's worth mentioning that if Briscoe and Custer's battle had not interfered with the potential result, the HMS driver wouldn't have been the first to cross the checkered flag.

During a post-race conversation with journalist Bob Pockrass, the 2025 Daytona 500 winner admitted to being lucky at the superspeedway, as his #24 Chevy's "good timing" ultimately propelled him to the win.

But the unwanted side is that the triumph wasn't largely attributed to the team's collaborative efforts, something Denny Hamlin voiced his concern about.

"That's not what you want to hear", Hamlin said about Byron admitting to his luck to the press. "You want to hear, 'My team brought an amazing car, we had great strategy, and at the end I made the move to win the race'...It's just not fair to William, it's not fair to the 24 teams," Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

Had Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500, he would've joined the legendary driver, Carl Yarborough, as a four-time Daytona 500 winner.