“That’s not fair to him”: NASCAR official refuses to reveal Denny Hamlin conversation amid fans vs. bots discourse

Denny Hamlin's recent revelation about fan reaction sparked massive outrage on social media. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, during a recent appearance on the Actions Detrimental podcast, disclosed that Mike Forde, NASCAR's Racing Communications personnel, believes the criticism against the current playoff format stems from "bots," rather than "real" people. In the midst of this controversy, Forde has stepped forward to defend both himself and Hamlin on the issue of bots versus real fans.

Hamlin spoke about how NASCAR's playoff format received enormous flak on social media after the final round of eight races at Martinsville. The race saw Ryan Blaney advance to the Championship 4, while Kyle Larson, widely considered the best driver of the season with six wins, was eliminated.

During the podcast, the JGR driver revealed that he discussed the post-race criticism with Forde. However, the response from Forde shocked NASCAR fans. According to reports, Mike Forde asserted that the criticism against the NASCAR Playoffs originated from "bot" accounts and not"real" people.

Following the revelation, NASCAR fans took to social media to slam the Racing Communications personnel. In response, Forde adopted a defensive stance. Without elaborating further, Forde stated that he did not want to open up on the conversation with Denny Hamlin.

"I'm not going to share the whole conversation with Denny, because that's not fair to him," Forde wrote on X. "But, he suggested that Twitter/X was the information capital of the world. I said that's a tricky statement, because there are ton of bots. It wasn't a direct reference to NASCAR topics."

NASCAR concluded its final round of eight race, the Xfinity 500, in Martinsville last weekend. Ryan Blaney claimed victory and qualified for the final round after he held off Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

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Denny Hamlin expressed his gratitude following Championship 4 failure

NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) during the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (Image via Imagn Images)

Denny Hamlin failed to make it to the Championship 4 after failing to win any of the round of eight races at Las Vegas, Homestead, and Martinsville. As such, he lost the chance to vie for his first Cup Series title. Following the recently concluded Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, he shared a message on X. He wrote,

"Thank you to all my friends, family, fans (and even the non fans) for the support of our 11 team during the 2024 season. Still got 1 more shot to hoist the cup next weekend."

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was one of the four drivers (Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell were three other drivers) who failed to make it to the final round. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron qualified for the Championship 4 and are all set to compete for the ultimate prize at Phoenix on November 10.