NASCAR insiders: NASCAR needs Denny Hamlin as its wrestling heel, Tom Brady

Two NASCAR insiders enjoy seeing Denny Hamlin become a hated athlete like a wrestling heel or Tom Brady. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic discussed Hamlin receiving boos before and after the race at Michigan International Speedway.

“He just gets showered with boos,” Gluck said about Denny Hamlin. “You could see his body language as soon as the boos. He climbs out, as soon as he gets showered with boos, he immediately goes into wrestling heel mode.”

“I love heel Denny,” Bianchi added. “NASCAR needs that. NASCAR needs guys who embrace it and relish it. And he does.”

Gluck shared more thoughts on Hamlin being a heel figure in NASCAR by comparing him to Brady. “He compared it to wanting to prove 65,000 people wrong,” Gluck said. I think it’s very similar to an NBA player that goes into a hostile arena on the road, playoff game-type atmosphere, and shuts up the crowd, and they’re booing.

“It’s the athletes you love to hate. When Tom Brady would come in the stadium and everybody hated the Patriots, you’re like, ‘Not this guy,’ and he’d win and you’d be so mad. But those athletes that can do that thrive off that. They take that energy, just like with the home crowd people cheering for them, they can take the energy and channel it into motivation for themselves and loving to shut everybody up like that.”

More on Denny Hamlin and Tom Brady

Denny Hamlin won the Cup Series race at Michigan on Sunday and trolled the fans by doing the Ohio State chant. He also brought back a phrase that made him a heel in NASCAR.

“Daddy, I’m sorry, but I beat your favorite driver, folks,” Hamlin said during an interview with Prime Video. When Hamlin was asked which driver he was referring to, the three-time Daytona 500 winner said, “All of them.”

The interesting thing about the NASCAR insiders talking about Tom Brady was that he was at the Indy 500 and received his share of boos from the fans at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And like Hamlin at Michigan, Brady poked fun at the Indianapolis fans.

“What an incredible experience at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend,” Brady wrote in an Instagram post. “Thanks to the [FOX Sports] family for putting on an incredible show, and to my friend, the best driver in the world and 7x champion [Jimmie Johnson] for letting me tag along as we led out the pack. I’ll be back, and next time I’m driving!!! PS: it was great to get in one more successful drive in front of a bunch of Colts fans.”