NASCAR Playing Favorites With Hendrick Motorsports: Bubba Wallace’s Spotter Freddie Kraft Chimes on Denny Hamlin’s Insinuation

After NASCAR and Hendrick announced a joint endeavor to take the Next Gen car to the 24 hours of Le Mans next year, almost everyone was excited. After all, this would be the first time in nearly half a century that a stock car runs in the prestigious endurance race. However, the fact it was only Hendrick that was part of this program, didn’t sit well with some people, including Denny Hamlin.

The 23XI Racing owner tweeted after the announcement, “Not sure @23XIRacing or @ToyotaRacing were invited to this party.”

This is something that Freddie Kraft, the spotter for 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace, recently suggested meant something more than what it appears on the surface.

In the recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, it was brought up whether anyone got the impression that NASCAR is playing favorites by picking Hendrick and Hendrick only, specifically, for this program.

“I did initially get that impression,” Kraft said. “I think that’s what Denny (Hamlin) is insinuating here, obviously, that there’s some kind of collusion between NASCAR and Hendrick.”

“Maybe it should’ve been one car per manufacturer. That would’ve probably been a little more fair.”

Denny Hamlin has complaints with some NASCAR circuits and their condition

Journalist Jenna Fryer recently posted a Twitter thread highlighting the conditions at Texas Motor Speedway irrespective of whether IndyCar races there or NASCAR. Her thread contained constructive criticism of the track facilities and its overall state, which made Denny Hamlin jump in the discourse.

“That part isn’t ok. Tracks make a killing and need to be held to higher standards instead of putting money in their pockets,” read one of Hamlin’s replies.

So when Fryer concluded her thread with a sarcastic question, “Remember when Big Hoss was the greatest invention of at-track fan experience?“, Hamlin replied, “I do. But this has to stop.. tracks are taking all of the money yet not reinvesting in back into their facilities.”

“If the teams showed up with fenders ripped off and junk pit equipment/pit boxes NASCAR would have a serious problem with that. Why can’t we treat the tracks the same (?)”

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