Did Denny Hamlin shoot himself in the foot, trying his luck with the late pit stop tactics at Martinsville Speedway? Considering the results of finishing P11, perhaps! If there was anyone who could put the HMS podium sweep on the edge, it was Hamlin.

Mamba Smith, during the recent Happy Hour podcast, explained the hypothetical situation, where Hamlin could have bumped Chase Elliotts’s No.9 car, and played his cards right with another caution. In response, Kevin Harvick stated that he very well had the option to risk such a move, considering that he already was getting enough stick from the fans ahead of the main event.

Kevin Harvick shares details of the unsavory treatment of fans towards Hamlin at Martinsville

It’s no secret that Denny Hamlin is not in the good book of NASCAR fans. It’s not necessarily his actions on the racetrack that have garnered him this tag, but his antics and outspoken behavior. According to Kevin Harvick, Hamlin wrecking Chase Eliott during the overtime finish, wouldn’t have made any difference. Because the JGR driver was already receiving flak from the fans prior to race day.

Speaking on the show, Harvick shared the incident of fans displaying their dislike for the #11 JGR driver during qualifying. “The good news for Denny is that they weren’t going to boo him any louder. So if he did spin out the 9 or anybody else, they weren’t going to boo him any louder. My favorite thing that I saw this weekend was during qualifying, it was a pack of like six fans… the whole family that was there together, and every time Denny would come by, they would both just put their middle fingers up.”

It wasn’t just the adults who dished out the treatment against Hamlin, even the kids were into it. “Everytime he came by, all three laps of qualifying, the kids and everybody, and everytime they go by they just start laughing, high-five each other, but it was like double birds. (…)Those are all the things that you see in the little ISO screen, never make it to TV and that was a fun follow during qualifying,” Harvick further added.

Interestingly, it’s not only Denny Hamlin who received harsh treatment from the fans but Kevin Harvick also suffered a similar fate at the venue.

Kevin Harvick’s love-hate relationship with Martinsville

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Fans are very picky about their support and appreciation for a driver, and unfortunately for Harvick, he always received unpleasant treatment from the fans at Martinsville. Out of all the Cup starts he made at the iconic short track, he only went to victory lane once, back in 2011. Sharing his experience running on the racetrack, he said, “A lot of people flipped me off at Martinsville, look Martinsville was one of those places that it was a kind of love-hate relationship.”

“The fans loved going there, I hated going there because I just never did very good. There’s nothing wrong with Martinsville, it’s a great racetrack, fun to watch. It was just one of those places, where they either loved me or hated me and there were a lot of people who didn’t like me up there. I didn’t start off on the right foot at Martinsville, my first year, it was towards the end of the season, I spun Bobby Hamilton out as he passed me for the lead,” Harvick added.

NASCAR fans are indeed picky when it comes to who is their favorite star. And going by the current state of affairs, it’s fair to say that Denny Hamlin will receive a similar treatment as he did at Martinsville, even if he does play out some antic on the racetrack.

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