Denny Hamlin’s Wish to Be Like Dale Earnhardt Jr Sabotaged His Relationships In The Early Part Of His Career

When it comes to Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin together, the 2015 Daytona 500 race is the first thing that springs to mind. However, that doesn’t mean that the two aren’t friends. In fact, their fight at Daytona was one of the calmest, and the two didn’t take long to get over it.

And now, Danica Patrick decided to invite this frenemy of hers to her YouTube podcast. During their conversation, Denny Hamlin opened up about his early days in NASCAR. Moreover, the Daytona 500 champion talked about his transition from being at a normal everyday job to being vaulted into the limelight.

Furthermore, he shared that all the changes took a toll on his friendships and relationships. Admitting that his intimate relationships were the ones that were worse affected,

Hamlin said; “I just think that I didn’t treat my relationships fairly. Just because I got kind of full of myself during a certain period (because) I was successful.”

Moreover, the 41-year-old driver revealed that he once wanted to be like Dale Earnhardt Jr. He said;

“It’s one thing to make it to NASCAR’s top level, (but) then be successful in my early 20s mid-20s – I wanted to live it up, I wanted to be like Dale Jr. When he was having parties on Tuesday night or Thursday night Clubbing yeah something like that.” READ MORE: NASCAR Insider Shoots Down Denny Hamlin & Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Radical Next-Gen Proposal

Furthermore, he reminisced about the time when

Dale Earnhardt Jr had just started his Saloon at the back of his house. Hamlin shared; “I’m like well I’m gonna put parties too and challenge his parties. So, you know it just that was kind of what happened.  We would go to the local bar up here called The Rusty Rudder on the lake.”

Denny Hamlin on how his parties sabotaged his Relationships

Denny Hamlin revealed that he and his friends used to go out clubbing almost every Tuesday night. In fact, he shared that his friends used to come to his house for an hour or two to play cards. Talking about his love for partying, Hamlin said that at times he had recruited the entire bar to come to his home to play cards.

He said;

“I mean it was four or five hundred people every single week that would come to the house. I mean my liquor bill was probably around 1600 -1800 a week in my house. So, yeah it was just an open bar. Everyone’s just like you know yeah let’s go party and so it was a lot of fun.”WATCH THIS STORY: Denny Hamlin Reveals the Condition He Set With Joe Gibbs to “Fire” Him This NASCAR Season

Following this, Hamlin explained that this constant habit of partying cost him a lot in terms of relationships. He said that with age, he soon began to realize that he needs to transition his life so that he can leave behind a legacy instead of just whiling away his days. During the conversation, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver admitted that he is much calmer now as compared to when he was in his 20s.