Rivalries in NASCAR are as good as they come. They are a core aspect of racing. It can be considered a natural outcome in a sport that doesn’t gratify the driver other than the winner. However, one of the many heated rivalries back in the golden days of NASCAR was between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. Over the years, the 2012 Cup Series champion has had multiple on-track battles with the #11 driver.

However, fast forward to 2024, and the rivalry has changed. While Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin don’t have continuous tussles in races, the bad blood remains. In partnership with the officially licensed collectibles brand Panini, NASCAR has collaborated to create trading cards for NASCAR drivers. Being obliged to open a pack of them, Keselowski had to keep Denny aside from his group of elite drivers, including the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Ryan Blaney.

What? Brad Keselowski’s exclusive club of drivers doesn’t include Denny Hamlin?

Panini first struck a deal with NASCAR in 2016. With trading cards being a popular method of gathering collectibles and feasible for the younger fans of the sport, the agreement has worked wonders for both parties. Before entering NASCAR, Panini had already established itself as a leading brand in the sports card industry, signing partnerships with the NBA, NFL, and WWE, among other notable alliances.

RFK Racing driver-owner Brad Keselowski was seen opening a pack of Panini NASCAR trading cards in a recent post on the team’s Twitter handle. Following some Xfinity Series cards, the first Cup Series driver in the pack was Denny Hamlin. With a smile, Keselowski said, “Ooo, Denny Hamlin, maybe I can get his autograph later?”

After Denny Hamlin, he received cards from known faces like Dale Earnhardt Jr, Noah Gragson, Hailie Deegan, and the RFK-RWR alliance’s recruit, Justin Haley. Moving forward, he found out the pack also had another card from Dale Jr. One of the cards that caught his attention was that of Truck Series star Corey Heim. In the following moments of Brad Keselowski’s pack opening, the 2012 champion unpacked the 2023 season champion, Ryan Blaney.

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“These four right here are really solid,” said Brad Keselowski as he clubbed the two Dale Jr cards with Corey Heim and Ryan Blaney. However, despite being a 51-time race winner in the Cup Series, Denny Hamlin didn’t cut it. There may be some remaining tension between the two veterans, or maybe the four cards look better than Denny’s. After all, it is hard to forget the long-standing rivalry between the two NASCAR superstars.

Corey Heim’s talent has certainly been hard to ignore, and his run to the championship race has brought many team owners’ eyes to him. The 21-year-old could follow a similar path as his Truck Series championship rival, Carson Hocevar, who has earned a move to Spire Motorsports for 2024.

A timeline of the heated Keselowski-Hamlin rivalry

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In 2008, against the backdrop of a bustling crowd at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin nudged Brad Keselowski’s car in an Xfinity Series race. The contact took an ugly turn as the drivers’ rage affected their teams, who were involved in a brawl at the garage. Speaking about the incident, Hamlin revealed that if someone from Keselowski’s camp had thrown a rock, he would reciprocate by throwing a concrete block at them.

In the following year, the pair met on the track multiple times. At Dover, Keselowski slightly bumped Hamlin’s rear to spin him at Phoenix. However, the #11 driver waited for his opportunity. Later in the season at Homestead-Miami, Hamlin got his revenge in the 35th lap of the Nationwide race. The pair have locked horns against each other, including a hitback from Brad Keselowski at the 2009 Daytona 500 practice session.

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The final nail in the coffin was the 2014 scuffle at Charlotte. After clashing metal on the race track, the altercation continued in the pit lane, adding fuel to the fire that hadn’t blemished. Such rivalries have not just underlined the intensity of NASCAR racing; they have also kept Denny Hamlin off Brad Keselowski’s exclusive Panini cards list.