NASCAR drivers seemed to enjoy themselves at last week’s annual NASCAR Awards in Nashville. But for Denny Hamlin, a sharp discomfort on his right arm grew as it increased to a point where he couldn’t raise his hand. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver had to go through shoulder surgery last week, so his participation in the season opener at The Coliseum is still up in the air. Appearing as a guest on the Dale Jr Download, Hamlin and Junior discussed the extent of the 43-year-old’s injury.

The injury has posed a horde of problems for Denny Hamlin. While he hopes to fix the lingering rotator cuff injury, Hamlin also revealed earlier that his situation worsened after the Las Vegas playoff race in October, where he tore two tendons in the shoulder. However, he highlighted a completely unexpected concern when speaking to Junior about his day-to-day problems.

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The buildup to Denny Hamlin’s injury began three years ago when he repaired a bone spur through surgery. The tendon tear at Las Vegas only worsened his shoulder’s condition, and before the race, he had torn his tendons in a sport other than racing. In the week after the Las Vegas race, NASCAR visited the Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Hamlin, the No. 11, suffered a crash that acted as a catalyst for the pain.

Celebrating one year of starting his podcast, Action Detrimental, on Dirty Mo Media, Denny Hamlin was urged to reveal some details about his injury by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Responding to the question with another question, he said, “You ever try to wipe your a** with the other hand? I’m serious. That’s why I shook my head.”

Being right-handed and not so good at being ambidextrous, Hamlin faced problems when he had to depend on his left arm throughout the final phase of the 2023 playoffs. Revealing his topic of interest, a laughing Dale Earnhardt Jr replied, “The reason why he is talking about this is because he had a shoulder surgery. I mean, that just came out of nowhere. I just want people to know that we’re not going to spring into that conversation.”

“I don’t know much about how good it’d be wiping with one hand, I don’t even try,” added the JR Motorsports owner. Denny Hamlin learned of the injury’s severity during the awards ceremony in Nashville and understood that the pain was a result of the stress his shoulder had had to handle over the years.

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“I realized for a while there,” claimed Denny. “It was during the banquet. I couldn’t raise my hand, so of course, that’s my dominant hand, so I’m trying to fix my hand. Next thing you know, everything is backwards. For the time being, this got to go. Listen, I’m not all Britney Spears right now. I got a bad hand. I got a bad wing.“

Further details about his return to racing will be known in the upcoming days. As things stand, his chances of racing in the Clash at the Coliseum seem highly unlikely. Having driven through the pain in the playoffs, Denny Hamlin also stated that he refrained from speaking about it, not to give out any excuse.

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When the first round of the playoffs ended, most of the NASCAR community believed that 2023 was the year Denny Hamlin’s curse finally ended. His dominant performances in the Round of 16 races made him an outright favorite for the title. However, Lady Luck had different plans for him again.

“We were certainly up against the odds, but one thing is I didn’t want to use it as any kind of excuse for not making the final four,” said Hamlin, taking responsibility for his ousting in the Round of 8. Navigating the car with his left arm was challenging and hindered him on and off the track.

“I think really our performance was as good as it possibly could be on track. I did everything I could to succeed, we just didn’t get it done for whatever reason. Certainly, I didn’t want that to be any excuse of why we didn’t perform well. … It’s just one of those things, I grew up being a right-arm driver and during the playoffs, had to switch to holding the wheel with the left hand, so it was certainly different.”

Despite another heartbreak on the biggest stage, Denny Hamlin said that the surgeons helping him are more than able. He felt that the pain should only decrease from here on and gradually fade away until he can resume racing.

“What I’m optimistic of is that I’ve got a great team that’s going to work on me to get this better, and certainly, I find it hard to believe that I’ll have more pain in late-January than what I did in the end of October and November,” added the 51-time Cup race winner.

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Destiny has thrown a lot of poor luck at Denny Hamlin. As he continues to chip his way in and strive for an elusive Cup Series championship, injuries could also force him out of NASCAR earlier than expected.