In NASCAR, Kyle Busch held the title of the sport’s ‘Bad Boy’ until recently, but it seems he has now passed on the crown to Denny Hamlin. After Pocono 400, some fans start to see Hamlin as the new villain, but the loyal supporters of the #11 team stand by him and celebrate his second victory of the season.

On the other hand, fans of Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Larson are expressing their displeasure by booing the #11 driver, holding him responsible for intentionally making contact with #5. Interestingly, Denny Hamlin himself maintained that he didn’t even make contact with Larson, but the debate rages on.

In a surprising turn of events, Denny Hamlin opens up and embraces the role of the ‘Villain,’ shedding light on the fans’ reactions and explaining the situation from his perspective.

Denny Hamlin embraces his ‘Villain’ crown

In NASCAR, drivers being booed by fans is common. Fans are passionate about supporting their favorite teams and drivers, standing by them regardless of whether they are right or wrong, and this response is entirely somewhat understandable.

Over the course of their successful careers, both Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have amassed huge fan bases for themselves. However, Larson’s fanbase was displeased with Denny Hamlin’s actions during a recent wreck, leading to booing and criticism directed at Hamlin from the fans of the #5 team.

Notably, during a conversation on ‘Rubbin is Racing’ podcast, Hamlin addressed the past instances of booing in his career.

When asked by Large if he has started to embrace “this villain thing,” he said, “I think there was a time to uh reel that back in but I just think that there’s no going back at this point. I think that I’ve adapted my style to match those who have uh been I’ve deemed aggressive in the past. And honestly I’ve gotten the bad end of it enough throughout my career that I’ve said you know what I’ve just got to change my style and if it means that I have to be more aggressive on the racetrack to get more wins that’s what I have to do because that’s what everyone has been willing on to do over the last five years or so the aggression level has gone up.”

Hamlin continued to explain the perspective of fans who booed him. He said, “At that point, you’re not a super popular driver or you get into it with popular driver it’s you know fans I understand they don’t see or think clearly, they don’t judge it through the lens of what happened is that okay or not. It just was my driver wronged or not.”

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Denny Hamlin also touched upon his ‘Villain’ crown during the press conference at Pocono

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This has undoubtedly been a challenging year for Denny Hamlin, facing criticism and booing from fans. And now, being labeled as a villain is never a likable position for any driver, and Hamlin certainly feels the weight of that title.

During a post-race interview, Hamlin was asked whether he sees himself as NASCAR’s new villain, taking over the role previously held by Kyle Busch. At that time, responded to the media by saying, “Not really.”

“I mean, I don’t think anyone likes to be disliked. I don’t know. I mean, no, I don’t try to do anything to lean into it, for sure. I think it just kind of happens naturally, to be honest with you. Some of the questionable incidents, like with the Chase thing, that stirs the things up, right? Me and Chase get together, we crash at Charlotte, it just fires the people right back up that, like, I’m a bad guy.”

Denny Hamlin is not pleased with the label of being a villain, and he also feels there is ‘no going back at this point’. He attributes such perceptions to certain incidents on the track and understands that fan loyalty can often lead to differing perspectives on racing incidents involving their favorite drivers.

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