Denny Hamlin takes the boos, stirs up drama, and isn’t afraid to get his gloves off when it comes to going up against fan favorites in NASCAR. He’s created rivalries with Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott, an eight-time winner of the Most Popular Driver Award. And when fans and drivers criticize him or look to fight him over it, Hamlin has leaned fully into the antagonist role.

“I outsmarted your heroes again,” he once famously said after a boo-heavy reaction to a victory in Bristol, taunting the crowd. But even the baddest villains in sports have a vulnerable side that isn’t often seen, and Hamlin recently pulled the mask off one of his.

On February 19, 2015, the thought of coming face to face with Danica Patrick at the Daytona Speedway made the Joe Gibbs Racing driver sweat. In an interview with The Athletic, Hamlin said:

“She had the brigade right there. I met her halfway between her car and mine. I just remember thinking, “Tense up. Tense up, just in case she swings.”

Both Hamlin and Patrick were taking part in the Budweiser duel, and for drivers who didn’t lock their Daytona 500 spot, it was important to finish well. Miss the cut and miss NASCAR’s biggest Cup Series race of the year.

Patrick was running eighth with three laps left, safely inside the transfer spot. Then Hamlin pulled up tight on her left rear, trying to give her a push through the draft. The air coming off his car took the grip right out of hers. Patrick spun as a result and took out Bobby Labonte and Brian Scott with her.

The day before, during practice, Hamlin had already wrecked her. Destroyed her primary car completely. She was already in a backup. And now this.

Somehow, Patrick clawed back. Desperate pit stops under caution, a push from teammate Kurt Busch on the restart, and she scraped through to tenth. She was in the Daytona 500, and then she went to find Hamlin.

She grabbed him by the fire suit. “Seriously! You did the same thing in practice. You did the same thing,” she said at the time. “You get on my left rear and spin me out.”

Hamlin did not budge. “Your car is too loose, Danica. We have to get close to you to get you going forward.”

Tony Stewart then walked over, pointing two fingers at Hamlin and said exactly what he thought. “That’s two this week, bud. That ain’t gonna fly when you’re crashing things.”

Hamlin held his ground in the moment. Ten years later, he finds the whole thing hilarious, but also admits he was already thinking about how he would even defend himself if Patrick decided to throw hands.

“That was a serious moment when I saw her stomping toward me,” Hamlin told the Times. “I knew I was in it. I didn’t know if she was going to hit me, but I knew I was going to have to be willing to take it. She was coming…”

For some time, the villain inside Hamlin took a back seat. And he became a more human version of himself. That night, he watched the footage back and quietly posted an apology on X, taking the blame the way a driver at the back in a crash always gets the ticket.

It helped that they were motorhome neighbors in the lot that week. They talked it through the next morning, and it was done. They played golf together after that, stayed friendly at the track, and developed a good relationship overall. H

Hamlin embraces his reputation among fans all too well, and the NASCAR community loves him for it. An anti-hero that many love to cheer for. But he cares more about how people see him than he previously admitted. And now, he’s finally said it himself.

A villain with a softer side to him

“I don’t care what your opinions are. I don’t care what you think of me. You don’t know me.” Hamlin made his feelings clear in 2021 after fans went after him on social media for clashing with Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott at Martinsville.

But on August 12 2026, when Jeff Gluck of The Athletic asked Hamlin what would surprise people who think they know him, his answer contradicts that infamous rant of his.

“I would think people generally feel like I don’t care what people think. But I do. Truthfully, I do care what people think,” he said.

Hamlin brought up Jamie McMurray, who had recently said in an interview that he always wanted to be liked and wanted people to respect him. Hamlin heard it and recognised himself in it. His response was short. “I agree.”

That is worth sitting with for a second. This is the same guy who got booed at nearly every track, who took NASCAR to federal court over charter rights, who calls out rivals by name on his podcast every single week without blinking. He has built an entire public identity around not needing anyone’s approval.

“I definitely have this ‘I don’t care’ attitude,” he said. “There are a lot of things I don’t let bother me. But I do care if someone has a negative opinion of me, for sure.”

So maybe the villain everyone sees isn’t the whole Denny Hamlin after all. He can take the boos, trade shots with his rivals, and play the role of NASCAR’s anti-hero, but underneath it all, he cares more than he lets on. And perhaps that is what makes Hamlin so interesting in the first place.