“Holy cow the results are not good”: Denny Hamlin explains why his crew chief wants to “explore removing” rescued dog from the driver’s premises

Denny Hamlin has outlined why his crew chief, Chris Gabehart is reluctant to let Lulu stay at the former's home. Ever since the rescued dog entered Hamlin’s household, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has witnessed a downfall in his performance.

During the Enjoy Illinois 300 weekend, the #11 Toyota driver posted a second-place finish. He decided to rest while his family was at The Gateway Arch in St. Louis Park. Over there, a park ranger was carrying the stray dog and the JGR driver's family asked if they could adopt it. Thus, Lulu became Hamlin's family member.

However, since then, the 54-time Cup Series race winner has witnessed a decline in performance. In his 13 races after Lulu's adoption, the #11 Toyota driver couldn't post a single victory but emerged as the runner-up, twice. Before that, he had four wins this season. Moreover, he has succumbed to four DNFs thus far, three of which happened after the dog was adopted.

Actions Detrimental co-host talked about his recent encounter with Chris Gabehart, where the latter said, "Someone's got to take that dog." Hamlin chuckled and said Gabehart doesn’t believe a "whole lot" in luck kind but was eager to “explore removing” the dog for a week and observe the stats in the upcoming Cup races.

"He (Gabehart) definitely wants to explore removing the dog off the premises for one week and see what happens. Chris Gabehart, an avid listener of Actions Detrimental, he doesn't believe in luck a whole lot, he believes in being prepared and things like that and I agree with him. But holy cow the results are not good with Lulu so far. I don't know what to do," Hamlin said.

Hamlin’s average finish dropped from 12th place to 20th after Lulu's entry.

Denny Hamlin sarcastically blames Lulu for his declining performance

Though the dots between Lulu's adoption and Denny Hamlin's performance might not be connected, the downfall in the three-time Daytona 500 winner's statistics after the dog was rescued is evident.

Hamlin had a disappointing playoff opener run at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. After being sent to the rear for post-qualifying plug wire change, the JGR driver couldn't catch up with the frontrunners and was trapped in the final lap pileup birthed by Chase Elliott, and finished 24th.

After the Atlanta run, Hamlin, during the Actions Detrimental podcast, asked co-host Allen to present his race stats after Lulu's adoption.

"If y'all don't mind, give me my average finish since St. Louis when we picked this damned dog up by the river. We'll then make an executive decision as parents whether we're going to keep this dog or not," Hamlin said.

“Sonoma 38th, Iowa 24th, New Hampshire 24th, Nashville 12th, Chicago 30th…Pocono second, Indy 32nd, Richmond second, Michigan ninth, Daytona 38th, Darlington seventh, and then Atlanta 24th,” Allen responded.

After a 23rd-place finish at Watkins Glen, Denny Hamlin has dropped below the elimination line. He will enter the final Round of 16 race, at Bristol with a six-point deficit.