Denny Hamlin jokingly names dog Lulu being "bad luck" amid recent NASCAR slump

Denny Hamlin jokingly blamed his dog Lulu for his recent slump in performance. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has faced a downward trajectory in his recent performances, starting from Sonoma and continuing into Chicago.

Even though Hamlin was joking here, the statistics are not. Prior to Lulu's arrival, the #11 driver had six back-to-back top-five finishes in the Cup Series, including a win at Dover.

Besides winning the Wurth 400 at Dover, Denny Hamlin finished the races at Kansas and Darlington in fifth and fourth places, respectively. In North Wilkesboro's All-Star Race, he had a second-place finish, followed by a fifth and another second-place finish at Charlotte and Illinois, respectively.

However, after Lulu's arrival after the Illinois race, the #11 driver finished the Toyota Save Mart 350 race at Sonoma in the 38th position, the Iowa Corn 350 in the 24th, and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway race in the 24th as well.

His jeopardy did not end in Nashville as he came home in 12th position, and most recently, in the Chicago Street Race, Hamlin secured 30th position. All of this has happened after welcoming Lulu to the family.

"Lulu is bad luck, you can't argue with the records," Hamlin said in the Actions Detrimental podcast. "We're on a five-race skid, after having five top-fives in a row...? I mean we're on a slide, we got to give that damn dog away."

The JGR driver and his family adopted Lulu in June this year from Gateway Arch in Missouri after a park ranger found him. This was immediately after the Enjoy Illinois 300 race at Getaway Motorsports Park.

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Denny Hamlin contrastingly praised Alex Bowman's newly adopted dog

Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course on July 07, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Alex Bowman adopted a dog recently, a year after his previous dog Roscoe's unfortunate death. Interestingly, the newly adopted dog has been "lucky" for the #48 driver as Bowman finally managed to secure a victory in the Cup Series.

Bowman held off Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs to claim his first victory of the season at the Grant Park 165 at Chicago. With this, he was able to deliver a NASCAR race win after getting a dog, something Denny Hamlin has failed to do after getting Lulu.

"Oh man, lucky dog," Hamlin said on Bowman's dog in the podcast. With the victory, Bowman also broke his 80-race winless run in the NASCAR Cup Series.