Hamlin Joins The Court of Appeals

What’s Happening?

A lot has been going on around Denny Hamlin in the last week. At Phoenix, he and Ross Chastain in the No. 1 got together on the final lap and both finished as the last cars on the lead lap. Nothing much was said after that. Fox’s broadcast didn’t even catch it on TV in the moment.

Speculation at the time wasn’t much more than “here we go again” as the next chapter in the Hamlin vs. Chastain saga started to get written. It wasn’t until Actions Detrimental, a podcast hosted by Hamlin and presented by Dirty Mo Media, was posted to YouTube when the pot really started to boil.

You Need To Know:

• Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin have a long history of somehow finding each other on the race track. Their rivalry was a huge storyline last year which bled over to this year’s Clash. As Denny admitted on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, his decision to plow Ross Chastain into the fence was no accident, it was intentional.
• As Hamlin dove into his mindset in the moment of the incident, NASCAR’s ears perked up and slapped him down with a big fine and a 25-point penalty on Wednesday. Initially, Hamlin declined to appeal the penalty but now has miraculously changed his mind. Perhaps his change of heart came after talking to his business partner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who said Hamlin should appeal the penalty as a what a NASCAR driver says on his own podcast or social media should be off-limits, noting a distinction between those things and actually saying it on the property of the track.
• Fans have no love lost for Denny Hamlin and haven’t for most of his career. Be it his affiliation with JGR, Bubba Wallace, or even spinning Chase Elliott at Richmond, for whatever reason, fans just don’t seem to care for him. They wasted no time criticizing his comments, many of them believing it was a “stupid” move and that he wouldn’t have gotten the penalty at all if he only kept his mouth shut.

The NASCAR appeals council has a full plate after this week as they will now hear not only the cases of Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig but also, now, Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin’s penalty, by its very nature, is worlds apart from the ones HMS and Kaulig were dished out. There might just be a little more wiggle room in Hamlin’s case for him to squeeze out of this one.

The Main Character

Denny Hamlin is obviously the main character of this story as he has decided to appeal a penalty handed down to him from NASCAR for something he said on his own show.

After much consideration I’ve decided that I will appeal the decision by NASCAR to penalize me.
What happened on Sunday was common hard racing that happens each and every weekend. There was also no manipulation of the race nor actions detrimental to the sport.

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) March 17, 2023

Here is a clip of Denny addressing the Chastain controversy on his podcast, Actions Detrimental.

Around The Garage

Business partner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., owner of Dirty Mo Media, spoke with his co-host, Mike Davis, about the penalty, thinking NASCAR had maybe gone too far.

In The Stands

Twitter user, Laura Smith, encourages Hamlin to fight what she believes is a gross injustice.

D3rt argues that NASCAR’s overreach here are Actions Detrimental…

Hmm…Kyle asks if Hamlin can even still appeal after initially opting not to…

Kyle Smith points out the contradiction in Hamlin’s two statements.

Kimberly H seems to be swayed by Dale Jr. and Mike Davis from the Dale Jr. Download. She supports Hamlin filing fo an appeal.

This Ross Chastain fan, who…doesn’t hate Hamlin?…disagrees with the NASCAR penalty.

Jason Davies thanks Denny for not being afraid to speak his mind.

Eddie Robertson wants Denny to “man up” and take his medicine as he “manipulated” the finish of Sunday’s race.

With all the talk about “manipulation”, Butter Ball points out that Ross Chastain manipulated the Championship 4 with his wallride at Martinsville. He did not get a penalty.

Lake Norman Buckeye screams for Denny to save the excitement and drama that made NASCAR so great.

On Your Screen

NASCAR YouTuber reports on the story, also providing the commentary that the penalty was too steep to begin with.

Denny Hamlin is Appealing the penalty as he should. He shouldn't have gotten as big of a penalty as he recieved #NASCAR

— Daniel Kriete (@DanielKriete4) March 17, 2023

Out of the Groove host, Eric Estepp found Hamlin’s tweet quite humorous.

Lol https://t.co/oJweWejrUg

— Eric Estepp (@EricEstepp17) March 17, 2023

We’re not sure when Denny Hamlin’s appeal will be heard but as soon as we find out, The Daily Downforce will let you know!