Denny Hamlin’s Criticism of the NFL Turns Into Ugly Altercation With NASCAR Fans

There are two popular definitions of success in NASCAR—one narrow, and the other slightly broader. The narrow one would only have 35 drivers making the cut. But the broader one would include a lot of gems, including the likes of Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin has been around for a long long time. He joined the Cup Series in 2005 for Joe Gibbs Racing and has been running the show for the team since then. That’s 18 years at the top of the sport.

Undoubtedly, he’s had some really good seasons. But the much sought-after trophy has always eluded the driver. He came close on multiple occasions, most famously in the 2010 season when he lost out to a rampaging Jimmie Johnson.

That lack of silverware is what has always put a question mark around the legacy he will leave when retires. If not for all fans, some seriously do believe that he didn’t do enough to be considered among the “greats.”

And that specific statistic continues to haunt him. Hamlin had posted a critical tweet about an NFL player that read: “How can you have such a long career as NFL QB but not be able to actually throw the ball?” The tweet was picked up by a fan, which began a bit of an altercation. At the end of it, though, the fan conceded that Hamlin has always taken criticism on his chin—always sportingly.

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It would always be difficult to make an argument against Hamlin’s legacy, whenever he decides to retire. He has just been too good.

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As Hamlin and the fan continued their conversation, others got into the act. They started to point out the glaring hole in Hamlin’s CV, and how that precluded him from criticizing the NFL player.

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Hamlin believes he has time left at JGR. How long that is, and whether it’ll be enough to win a Cup Series, no one knows.