Denny Hamlin Declares NASCAR Have “Too Many” Road Course Races

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on the issues with road course racing in the sport’s 36 race schedule.

Denny Hamlin Declares NASCAR Have “Too Many” Road Course Races

Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

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NASCAR became one of the biggest racing series in the world by producing elite stock car races in the unique Ovals. But that didn’t stop the championship from exploring other racing venues, such as road course racing, street racing and even dirt racing. The 2025 schedule hosts six non-oval races and Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin isn’t happy about it.

Out of the six races, five are road course events and one the recently concluded Chicago Street Race. JGR racer and 23XI Racing co-owner during his post-race analysis on his Actions Detrimental Podcast, shared his thoughts the current schedule and the need to change it. Denny Hamlin seems to be disappointed with NASCAR no longer being true to its short-track heritage.

I’m not a road course fan. I still believe we have too many of them on the schedule. I think there was a big, giant push for them eight years ago, six years ago and NASCAR was like, ‘OK, if that’s what you want.’ The only reason people loved them is because we had green-white-checkered finishes, and people would get wiped out and it created this excitement.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

The No:11 Toyota driver is not a road course star and not a big fan of these events. This has to do with the fact that he has won just one road course race in his career from over 46+ starts, coming at Watkins Glen in 2016. His comments suggest that misinformed market analysis about road courses resulted in the sanctioning body pushing for more no-oval events a decade ago.

In the conversation, Denny Hamlin asserted that the road courses races were added to the schedule, which they have later cut back, due to fake new about fans being interested in having more such events. The veteran wants NASCAR to stay true to its roots and have more oval, full contact races over six road courses.

I just think it was fake news, and we added a bunch to the schedule. We did cut back maybe one this year but still, six is a lot considering we are NASCAR — we’re short track racing, we’re oval racing, full contact type racing.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin explained how important Chicago Street race is for 23XI

While for many teams, the Chicago week is a challenging race, but for 23XI Racing it beyond that. Their co-owner Michael Jordan has a huge association with the city over his legendary NBA career with the Bulls. Another major factor is the city being huge markets for the teams’ primary sponsors McDonalds and the Jordan Brand.  

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Via newsminimalist.com)

It’s a very important partner city. There’s three main (sponsors). There were three main ones this weekend that this was a big deal for them. McDonald’s, obviously — their headquarters is there. You have the Jordan Brand, for obvious reasons.

Denny Hamlin said.

It’s not the just two brands, their another sponsor Robinhood also has projects they are part of the city. All these factors matter to the team a lot as racing in venues their sponsor want is significant factor in how much revenue they can generate to continue their arcing operations.

And then it was an important one for Robinhood, as well. They had a bunch of people out…So, it matters to us. In a world where, you know, if we don’t sell sponsorship, we don’t have a business — it’s important, no doubt.

Denny Hamlin added.

The comments from Denny Hamlin proves it is not just the good racing that has inspired him to call for NASCAR to continue racing in the streets, but the sponsorship demands played a role. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the 23XI-Chicago partnership, and if NASCAR continue to race in the venue.

Also Read: Dale Earnhardt Jr. SLAMS Ross Chastain for ‘Destroying Joey Logano’ at Chicago Over Misunderstanding