"Lulu is in search of a good home": Denny Hamlin jokes about dog's departure on crew chief's suggestion as playoff woes continue

Denny Hamlin does not mind parting with his pet dog Lulu in order to achieve success. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver often blames his pet for his underwhelming performances, and now he has jokingly put Lulu up for adoption on social media.

Lulu was found by a park ranger at Gateway Arch in Missouri. Interestingly, Hamlin's racing success has not been as prominent since adopting Lulu.

As the #11 driver prepares himself for the third playoffs race, he posted a picture of Lulu on X, captioning it,

"Lulu is in search of a good home for the remainder of my championship run."

He also quote-tweeted Dirty Mo Media's post about the 'bad' luck Lulu brought, something his crew chief Chris Gabehart believes in.

Speaking about this, he said,

"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. Just auction her off on social media or something?" he added.

Notably, the 43-year-old claimed all three of his Cup Series victories this season prior to Lulu's arrival.

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Denny Hamlin once termed Lulu a "bad luck"

NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) drives during the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International (Image via Imagn)

As Denny Hamlin's struggles persisted after Lulu's arrival, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver didn't shy away from jokingly blaming his pet dog for his bad luck. In a July episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the #11 driver lightheartedly referred to Lulu as his 'bad luck.'

"Lulu is bad luck, you can't argue with the records. 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," he said.

NASCAR recently stripped Hamlin of his Bristol victory after discovering an irregularity with his race-winning Toyota Camry. Besides taking his Bristol victory away, NASCAR also deducted 75 regular season points and 10 playoff points and fined Chris Gabehart $100,000. Hamlin, who was in pursuit of the NASCAR regular season championship, lost momentum because of this penalty.

Hamlin is gearing up for the third playoff race in Bristol next weekend, hoping to improve his playoff position and avoid elimination. He currently sits on the bubble with -6 points.