Denny Hamlin echoed the words of new NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell during a recent podcast rant about the state of NASCAR Cup Series superspeedway racing.
This past race weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR turned a corner in its structure, with longtime COO and recent President Steve O’Donnell taking over as the CEO of NASCAR.
During his introductory press conference, O’Donnell spoke on the future, saying that in five years, he wants the sport to be, among other things, a “must have” for TV partners.
While NASCAR made this major change for the future, fans still aren’t satisfied with another lackluster showing for the NASCAR Next Gen car at a superspeedway.
Following complaints from fans about fuel saving late in the race, NASCAR restructured the race stages to ensure fuel was of no concern. Even then, the other issue with this style of racing in the Next Gen era, the inability to pass, reared its head again.
This frustration, again, left the track, with drivers using different forms of media to let their feelings out.
On the latest episode of his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin joined the fray, giving a long-winded rant about the state of superspeedway racing and, somewhat sarcastically, focusing on O’Donnell’s comments on where the sport will be in five years.
Hamlin said, in his opinion, he doesn’t want to do this style of racing five years from now.
“I heard Steve O’Donnell say, ‘Where do we want the sport to be in five years?’ I can tell you right now, I don’t wanna do this for another five years.” — Denny Hamlin
The three-time Daytona 500 Champion continued by saying that for years now, he has called out the quality of superspeedway racing as an issue, one that NASCAR needed to address sooner rather than later.
“For the last three years, I’ve said, ‘Please, let’s not neglect that we have a superspeedway racing issue. You can’t pull out a line in these cars. Not without a train of people behind you,'” Hamlin said.
While he knows that a lot stands in the way of change, it needs to happen now, something he is hoping the sport figures out despite those who would derail any progress, remarking, “I totally get that, but I want us to start on it right now. Not tomorrow.”
O’Donnell’s promotion has sparked renewed optimism from some in NASCAR leadership, and Hamlin is no different, saying that O’Donnell has a “golden opportunity” to make a change that both fans and drivers would praise.
Still, that does not mean that O’Donnell will not have his limitations, as Hamlin pointed out, OEMs could stand in the way of any potential decisions made by the CEO that could help the superspeedway racing product.
“He’s gonna be at the mercy, as he probably knows, and we’ll find out in this position, of your major stakeholders,” Hamlin said. “And if he has all three OEMs saying, ‘Absolutely not.’ There ain’t nothing he can do about that.”
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