Denny Hamlin's refusal to risk what would’ve ‘ended his career immediately’ leaves $110M Kevin Harvick ‘disappointed’

Denny Hamlin bagged his second consecutive victory of the season at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, April 6. With his No. 11 Camry flaunting a special Carl Edwards theme, the Tampa, Florida native capitalized on the last restart and in quite the fashion, secured the 56th win of his Cup Series career.

During a recent episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour Podcast, the former Cup Series champion lauded the Joe Gibbs Racing driver for his win. However, something about Hamlin’s post-race celebration “disappointed” the $110 million-worth (according to Celebrity Net Worth) NASCAR veteran.

Following his triumph, Hamlin drove Edwards’s Office Depot scheme to the victory lane. However, he did not go for the celebratory backflip that Carl Edwards was known to perform after winning races.

When asked why, Hamlin told Harvick (8:00),

“I think he (Carl Edwards) should have because me attempting the backflip would end my career immediately.”

Interestingly, had fellow Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace not spun Kyle Larson with two laps to go, there wouldn’t have been a caution or a restart. Denny Hamlin wouldn’t have been in a position to restart the race from the front of the field, and the victory would have fallen into someone else’s hands.

“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson,” said Hamlin during a recent interview with FOX Sports. “Had a little assist there, so thank you. Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week, they won it this week. It’s all about them.”

Hamlin is in a position to contend for a three-peat, meaning he can now go for his third straight win this season. The exact same feat was pulled off by his JGR teammate, Christopher Bell, only a few weeks ago.

That being said, Hamlin’s upcoming race is scheduled for Sunday, April 13 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Named Food City 500, the event will be televised on Fox Sports 1 from 3 pm ET onwards. Live radio updates will be available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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NASCAR team owner Michael Jordan drops a clear warning to Denny Hamlin’s haters

Michael Jordan, a former NBA legend and co-owner of 23XI Racing with Denny Hamlin, believes that the JGR speedster actually benefits from the boos that often come his way. As quoted by Newsweek, MJ said,

“If you boo him, that makes him better."

Jordan and Hamlin are partners at 23XI Racing, a three-car team that operates in the NASCAR Cup Series. Last year, the organization unveiled its brand new race shop in Huntersville, North Carolina, named Airspeed.

Back in July, Denny Hamlin took reporter Kim Coon for a tour inside the 114,000-square-foot facility. Here is a video on Instagram (via NASCAR on NBC) that shows the same:

Hamlin is the oldest tenured driver at Joe Gibbs Racing right now. He sits second in the official driver standings with 266 points to his credit. Besides the wins, he has amassed four top-fives and five top-10s.