Denny Hamlin says longtime NASCAR team owners 'deserve' to get more money back

Denny Hamlin is seeing things from more of an owner perspective as time goes on with 23XI Racing.

The NASCAR veteran may still be at the top of his game on the track, but his off-track responsibilities are helping to shape his viewpoints. One of those include his opinion on the cost of NASCAR charters, and he believes the more legendary teams deserve the money they could get for them.

Hamlin compared them to franchises in other sports, and elaborated on why he believes that the patriarchs of the sport deserve every penny and then some.

“It’s good that the franchise value is worth something, because you know, these owners like Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske and Richard Childress, that have been around for such a long time, deserve getting paid for their commitment to this sport, for decades and decades,” Hamlin said, via Actions Detrimental.

“They deserve for their franchise to be worth something. A big number, whatever that number may be.”

Alas, it’s evident NASCAR is booming, as live sports throughout the world are, as well. The sport is in the middle of a slight renaissance, and it looks like Hamlin might’ve bought in at the right time.

Denny Hamlin already has an amazing on-track career, but it looks like his time as an owner could even exceed that one day. Time will tell, but we’re not putting anything out of his reach moving forward.

Denny Hamlin: Kyle Larson will be ‘tough to beat’ for NASCAR championship

Denny Hamlin singled out Kyle Larson are his toughest competitor for the NASCAR Cup Series title moving forward.

Following his win at Bristol during his latest edition of Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman elaborated on his thoughts regarding Larson’s championship caliber driving.

“I look at kind of how this first round has played out, and certainly the No. 5 car in Kyle has been super strong, every single week. They were a top two car at Darlington. Certainly a top two car I think, at Kansas. And then this weekend, they were super strong, as well. They were really fast in practice, and I think they were probably just a little bit too loose there in qualifying. He got sideways a bunch. So they’re going to be tough to beat, no doubt about it,” explained Hamlin. “I got asked in the media center quite a bit, what about the challenge, or what do you have to do to beat the No. 5 car? I’m like, ‘I don’t have to beat the No. 5 car right now.’ If we get to Phoenix together, then certainly he will be a competitor I will have to beat, but I feel as though you always have to concentrate on yourself, and what can you do to be at your best, and I feel like when my team’s at my best, and their team’s at their best, it’s like, yeah, we’re close. It’s very, very close. … You never know what can happen, and you can’t get too far ahead of yourself, because there’s six races to go, to even put yourself in a position to win a championship. 

“So who knows what happens this next round. But it’s shaping up for — you’re seeing some of the cream rising to the top, when Kyle Larson, this time of the year, he’s on it. He’s up front.”