Denny Hamlin has long been considered one of the most divisive drivers. In the NASCAR community and fandom, he has a ‘love him or hate him’ relationship with the fans. However, one now has to wonder if he is slowly becoming a man of the people. In other words, some of his personal views have been looked upon favorably by the fans. Now that he has his own podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing star can afford to freely talk about his opinions, and he does not hold back. And…

Earlier this year, NASCAR came out with a new podcast called Hauler Talk. Over here, weekly episodes offer insight into race-day decisions from NASCAR officials, straight from the horse’s mouth. Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde, Senior Director Amanda Ellis, and NBC Sports’ Nate Ryan are the hosts of this show.

Now, in a recent episode of Hauler Talk, Forde spoke about the cost of running a race team, among other subjects. While promoting the episode on social media, he happened to aim a small dig at Denny Hamlin. He wrote, “We chat Dega DQ’s, Dega walls, and how Denny Hamlin overshot his $2 million All-Star ‘run what you brung’ estimate by about $2 million.” But did Denny reply?

Naturally, when a driver feels that he’s been insulted, he will retaliate. The #11 driver snarkily tweeted, “Oh it cost us nothing to run a raceteam now. Whew, this business is easier than I thought. BTW, Great stats on Sunday!”. In all honesty, Hamlin does know what he is talking about. After all, he and Brad Keselowski are team owners as well as drivers.

Denny Hamlin had to buy charters to establish his team and later expand it. So it is fair to say that he is qualified to speak on the matter. As such, he could not resist being a little smug about his piece of business in the NASCAR Cup Series. Especially, considering that 23XI Racing has been performing well since it made its debut.

For 2025, the organization has expanded to three cars, with Riley Herbst joining Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. So far, the trio has been turning in decent performances for the team and going from strength to strength.

And fans are there to extend their support to Denny.

NASCAR fans threw their support behind the Joe Gibbs Racing driver

Denny Hamlin is notorious for being an outspoken driver. People may not agree with him on many things, but there are some opinions where they are also on the same page. As such, he gained a fair amount of support from the fanbase on the matter of running a racing team. One fan declared, “Hands raised if Denny is becoming your new favorite driver.”

Other fans questioned Forde’s claim that running a team nis ot expensive. Some said, “If it’s so cheap why isn’t Junior in Cup?”. Meanwhile another said, “If it’s so cheap I’m sure there have been tons of new teams joining over the last few years, right?” Another fan criticized Forde, “This guy has a show ? Denny as a team owner would know way more than fucktard did he round up maybe maybe not but I’ll side with Denny on this easily”

Mike Forde wasn’t about to be cut any slack, “Mike isn’t to smart when he said at the end teams said it would cost to much. Plus this next gen sucks and he wouldn’t talk about that and how bad talladega was lol.” Finally, one NASCAR fan cheered, “Get him @dennyhamlin Pretty sure Denny knows the bank account that funds the checks getting written. I’ll take Dennys word over yours Mike. He would know best.”

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