It seems that Denny Hamlin has a thing for coliseums. After his victory at the LA Memorial Coliseum, Hamlin secured his first Cup win of the year at ‘The Last Great Colosseum.’ Seeing this, Denny’s fans took Bristol Motor Speedway by storm, showering him with praise. Following the norm, Hamlin’s haters did not fail to leave a mark either. But as it turns out, NASCAR’s ‘villain’ was not the only one subjected to jeers this time.

The riled-up Bristol audience may have gotten into Denny Hamlin’s bad books

It was a bright, sunny day in Bristol, Tennessee. NASCAR drivers were gearing up for a tough race on the newly repaved 0.533-mile oval. Tensions were high, as Bristol Motor Speedway is famous for easy wrecks and tight racing. But before the Food City 500 race even started, mood dampeners appeared for the racers.

It was the Tennessee fans who decided to take out their frustrations on the drivers. In a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin’s co-host, Jared Allen, said, “Apparently, they booed everybody at introductions, according to Twitter.” Listening to this, Denny Hamlin asked, “Were the Tennessee fans just grumpy?”

NASCAR reporter Chris Knight of Catchfence shed light on one particular driver: “A lot of boos for Kyle Larson during driver introductions at Bristol. Was not expecting that.” Apart from the Las Vegas victor, other Hendrick Motorsports drivers also saw a similar fate. William Byron and Chase Elliott joined Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano to experience the wrath of the fans. Three Hendrick drivers secured spots in the top ten, while only William Byron finished a disappointing 35th place.

Jared Allen drew attention to the Hendrick drivers’ predicament. Denny Hamlin responded with a straight, no-nonsense judgment of Bristol fans: “Tennessee woke up and chose violence.”

However, Hamlin, who has now gotten used to such reactions from the audience, had other plans. Plans as to how he would deal with his haters at Bristol. Recreating the events from his win in Bristol last year, some unhappy haters hurtled cucumbers at him. A NASCAR official picked two of those and delivered them to Hamlin, who posed with his haters’ prizes beside the Bristol trophy. But that is not all.

Denny Hamlin also sent a message to his haters by slicing up the cucumbers with the iconic Bristol gladiator sword!

Whatever the fan reactions were, it is clear that Denny Hamlin put up an impressive show at Bristol.

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While most struggled, Hamlin used the tire debacle to his advantage

Goodyear used the same rubber tires as they did in last Fall’s race. But this time, the concrete track slowly started to eat into the soft rubber, so much so that NASCAR issued each team an extra set of tires. However, the brutal tire conditions did not faze Denny Hamlin in his pursuit of the Cup title. 

It seems that the Chesterfield, Virginia native had waited his whole life for such a moment. With his short-track experience, he was well-equipped to deal with the tire situation. Hamlin said post-race, “That’s what I grew up here doing in the short tracks in the Mid Atlantic, South Boston (Va.), Martinsville. Once it became a tire-management race, I really liked our chances.”

Denny Hamlin has soared to victory while defying his haters’ discouraging onslaught of vegetable gifts. We can only gaze at him in awe and wait for another wonderful Cup win.

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