Fan favorite or not, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin is surely one of the most popular drivers in the world of NASCAR right now. And it looks like this resurgence of the 23XI co-owner made its inception back in Pocono when he rammed his golf buddy Kyle Larson into the wall to secure his 7th win at the Tricky Triangle and with that the 600th win of Toyota. The following week, the #5 HMS driver too nudged the tail of Hamlin’s number 11 Camry. But Hamlin does not seem to care at all as he fully embraces the villain arc.

Let’s be honest here. Denny Hamlin is a 42-year-old driver. He will be around as a driver for perhaps 7-8 more years, after which, he will take up the full-time responsibilities as a team owner. But before that, he certainly looks forward to achieving all he can. Over 18 years of driving in Cup Series without a single championship when much younger guys already have one, must be a hard pill to swallow. While some might love his villainous demeanor, a HMS legend vehemently dissed it.

Jeff Gordon on why he would not want his drivers at Hendrick Motorsports to embrace the villain arc

The 52-year-old vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, the winningest team of NASCAR, gave Denny Hamlin his nod of approval for doing whatever he is doing to come off as the bad boy of NASCAR. Gordon said, “The fact that he is embracing that, I’ll give him kudos all day long. Go for it.”

However, he would not want his drivers to gain negative popularity like Denny Hamlin does. The 4-time Cup Series champion admitted that he wanted their drivers to build a fan base based on how many races they won and not based on how many cars they wrecked. And he justified his opinion with a 3-word claim.

“It’s too controversial,” Gordon said. “To me, it’s a distraction. I want our drivers to go and build a fan base by winning races and by being themselves,” he added.

“I think Denny is being himself to a certain degree, it’s kind of an alter ego as well,” he added.

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Needless to say, Denny Hamlin couldn’t care the least about what everyone says about him. To make things more interesting, Denny received a thumbs up from the predecessor to the ‘bad boy’ throne.

Richard Childress’ star gave Denny Hamlin his green flag

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According to The Herald, Denny Hamlin loves banter and “talking sh*t”. Denny had declared, “And now I’m just running well enough where I can back it up. I’m feeding off of it because I’m proving so many people wrong.”

With results backing his statements, Denny Hamlin now enters the upcoming race Charlotte ROVAL 50 points above the cutline and with a high chance at winning. Days before the closing race of the round of 12, the 7-time Pocono winner lodged a warning to everyone on the roster and said, “If you root against me, I just want to make these next few weeks a living hell for you. I really do. I want to live in the misery of you watching us run well.”

“Am I feeding into the villain stuff?” Hamlin said, adding, “Absolutely. 100 percent. Because I’ve got some confidence, our team is running well.”

Kyle Busch used to uphold the bad-boy image of NASCAR. With his own history of on-track squabbles, Rowdy expressed how much he loved Denny Hamlin’s newly found role. During a press conference from last week, the #8 driver said, “When you are in that spot like I was and I guess Denny is, you gotta do what Denny is doing. I mean, it’s perfect. You gotta play with it and just go with it, roll with it; egg ’em on.”

Do you like Denny Hamlin’s alter-ego? Or are you one of those who would boo him after he wins a race? Do let us know in the comments below!

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