At some point in people’s lives, they have fallen victim to a scam. No one is immune to it, and it can happen to just about anybody. That’s exactly what happened to Denny Hamlin quite recently. Since NASCAR drivers are travelling across the country constantly, they have to either stay at hotels or rent an Airbnb. However, Hamlin’s stay during the Cup race weekend at Phoenix didn’t go very smoothly this time.

Denny Hamlin opened up on his hectic couple of days

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver confessed that his sleep schedule has been in disarray lately. A part of it has to do with his son, who was born last year. Apparently, Jameson tends to wake up at the crack of dawn, as soon as there’s some sunlight.

But that wasn’t the only thing Hamlin had to deal with last weekend.

Hamlin said on his podcast, “Yeah, I always do an Airbnb on the Vegas-Phoenix duo there; I like to stay out. So I booked a place. I felt like I’d been downgrading our places to stay over the last few years. I’m like, ‘We got to get back to where we were.'”

“So I reserved this really, really nice place. I knew it was nice because you have to have a gate code to get in, into the street. Well, we get there, and it’s really dark. I’m checking my app, and it says booked, reserved, paid, and all that. It’s weird; I usually get check-in instructions by now, and I looked at my phone. ‘Hey, we’re here to check in.’ Just nothing; the house is really dark. I hit the ring doorbell, camera, nothing.”

The problem began when a couple emerged, completely confused because apparently, this was their residence. Bizarrely, Hamlin wasn’t in the wrong either, because his app listed that very address.

What further complicated matters was that the Hamlin family pre-ordered supplies for baby Jameson, and they arrived at the residence before them. The couple at the residence was actually debating giving the supplies away to their neighbors. There was some initial hostility, which later mellowed out when the children made an appearance.

Denny Hamlin admitted, “They were like, ‘Who are these kids coming in here?’ They think that they RBOed $500 for the week’s house. They’re like, ‘What did you pay for this?’ I told them, and they’re like, ‘Oh, okay.’ Well, you got scammed. Well, okay, what do I do now? So we rushed; Austin had a contact out here at one of the rental places. He got in touch with the owner of the rental place. He’s like, ‘I’ve got this one place that’s still available.’ We sent the family off to get pizza while we looked around. Had a few places and came upon the new place.”

While the stay made for a strange race weekend memory, Hamlin now has his focus firmly set on getting his season back on track.

The JGR star is hoping to get his season on track at Las Vegas

With four races done and dusted, it has been the Tyler Reddick show, with him nabbing 3 wins in a row. Then last weekend, Ryan Blaney broke the streak when he triumphed at the Phoenix Raceway.

To be frank, Hamlin had a rough start to the season, crashing out at the Daytona 500, a race he had won several times in the past. Fortunately, his performances in subsequent races have been improving.

He finished 13th at the EchoPark Speedway, following that with a Top 10 at Circuit of the Americas. Finally, he clinched an excellent 5th-place finish at the Phoenix Raceway.

If this goes on, race wins will surely come in no time. The best part is that there are no more Playoffs or a ‘Win and you’re in’ system. The current championship format rewards consistency, so Denny Hamlin will be working on that.