Very thoughtful answer from Denny Hamlin when asked if his perspective on life has changed given all that's happened to him since the final laps at Phoenix.
"It certainly is different. And I think that the easy thing to say is 'poor me.' But it's like, I still have a fantastic life, a great family. A lot of people go through tragedies. While what happened with my family in the offseason was highly publicized, there's probably tons of those stories of crewmembers that happened in their family this offseason, that happens to them during the season that no one really knows about.
"So everyone kind of has their times where they have to go through tough moments. And I think that those are really kind of building moments of your character. It's how you respond to it.
"I think this season for me could certainly go one of two ways. And I think there's not much of a middle road - It's gonna go really one way or really the other way. And it's up to me which way I decide to turn.
"I think that right now, my focus is on keeping this thing on the right track and making sure I spend these last couple of years accomplishing everything that I want to before my career is over."
This is easily my favorite story with Greg Biffle, and it's about his run-in with Boris Said at Watkins Glen in 2012. How he describes nailing Boris in the side of the head with the water bottle always makes me hysterical.
Trackhouse Racing just posted a video to their YouTube page where Connor Zilisch opened up about losing the Xfinity Series title in Phoenix as part of the unveil of his Daytona 500 car.
"Coming up one spot short after you dominate all year long, it's just heart-wrenching.
"Obviously Phoenix - we were the dominant car all year long, and then you go into Phoenix and you've got to go and win and execute that one race to win the championship. And you work all year long for one moment, and when you come up short in that moment - It hurt me a lot."
Won't spoil the whole thing but it's worth the four minutes of your time between Zilisch talking about Phoenix, turning the page to 2026 and some behind the scenes stuff in regards to today's unveil of Trackhouse's Red Bull cars.
I have always loved that there are two versions of the Dale Sr. Coca-Cola Machine - the "Buy a refreshing Coca-Cola!" version, followed by the "Yeah, I wasn't asking" version.
It's the great Walton Goggins's birthday.
Here he is smoking weed with Danny McBride, dressed as The Hamburgler and Ronald McDonald, discussing the crimes they've commited lol
Denny Hamlin echoed some of last week’s comments here, but this nugget was also interesting: He spoke with Carl Edwards.
“While he doesn't plan to abruptly retire following his heartbreaking Phoenix race, it was important to gain the perspective from Edwards on the situation.”
Who Todd Snider is, how he got here, and how, hopefully, he will overcome this moment to have another great song to sing, and story to tell.
https://t.co/ypJBLl50mJ
I am an avid @dennyhamlin podcast "Actions Detrimental" listener - and as such, this is my humble thoughts for Denny on when to return the podcast. https://t.co/UTEEfcvTxA
Not that he needs to look to me for advice :) but I really felt this opinion hard and wanted to post.
Forgotten NASCAR lore: In 1998 The Joker and his henchmen tried to take over Charlotte Motor Speedway prior to the start of a Cup race, so Batman had to show up in the Batmobile and defeat him after a car chase through the quad oval.
Somehow we don't talk about this.
This sport does not deserve Denny Hamlin
The fact he literally said he doesn’t want to drive a car again tells you enough about the current state of the sport
cw gave xfinity an hour pre race for the championship… fox did none for trucks
cw gives us in person booth… fox did not
cw shows practice (a bare min)… fox dead*ss couldn’t give us that
crazy how cw’s 1st year has cleared a long time established broadcast partner this year