“‘I don't think the fans understand you’”: Denny Hamlin reveals how Dale Jr. capitalized on his outspokenness

Denny Hamlin recently revealed how Dale Earnhardt Jr. convinced him to start Actions Detrimental. Hamlin's podcast has become one of the most successful in the realm of NASCAR ever since its inception at the start of 2023.

And it all began when Dale Jr. spotted an opportunity in the media interactions of Denny Hamlin.

Speaking to Kenny Wallace recently, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver spoke about Earnhardt Jr. presenting him with the idea of having his own show:

"I think that Dale Jr. saw that I was always making headlines when it came to my media availability each and every weekend. There were hot topics, it was safety, it was the Next Gen, competition and stuff. And what you would see were little snippets of these articles where I'm quoted one line of what I said and it wasn't the full context of what I was talking about."

"And he's like, 'Man, I understand you because I know what you're saying. I don't think the fans understand you. I think you need to have a forum and a platform to explain and you need more than 20 minutes to do that, when you need to talk about the hot topics in the sport," Hamlin revealed. [21:55]

The #11 driver claimed Earnhardt twisted his arm enough to convince him to do it. However, Hamlin had his doubts at the beginning as he asked Junior about his obligations and how much he'd have to dedicate to the show.

Junior told him he'll have it all set up for him. Hamlin was told he'll have race highlights as soon as the race is over, and he'll have all the drivers' comments so he could be up to date with what's going on, after which Hamlin agreed.

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Denny Hamlin explains why the nature of Actions Detrimental isn't and won't be safe opinions

Speaking further about Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin claimed that a year and a half into it, the show has "changed the dynamic." Hamlin said that he feels his voice has some weight within the sport as he cleared a misconception about NASCAR.

Hamlin also claimed why the nature of the content on his show is the way it is instead of being more relatively safe.

"People don't think they do, but NASCAR listens to what's on social media and so I always said, 'My show isn't a fact based show. Mine is an opinion based show. I'm going to give you my opinion whatever the topic might be. I get paid to talk about the hot topics in the sport. I need to comment on things that are sometimes uncomfortable for me to comment on because there's a conflict of interest. But that's what I get paid to do," Hamlin said.

He added that he's speaking not just to get his voice heard, but because that's his job. In fact, Denny Hamlin claimed he has three major jobs now: driver, car owner, and media member.

But despite the nature of conversations and opinions on Actions Detrimental, Hamlin said that NASCAR and he are closer than what people think. He revealed that he told NASCAR how his podcast is good for the sport and 80% of the time they'll like what he says, but 20% when they'll "f**k**g hate it."

Despite that, Denny Hamlin claimed NASCAR would have to put up with the criticism because his listeners tune in for his honest opinions. And if he dropped the honesty and started playing it safe, the listeners of Actions Detrimental would tune out.