Kenny Wallace Brands Denny Hamlin as “One of the Strongest Mental People” in NASCAR

Ex-NASCAR Cup Series driver Kenny Wallace has shared his thoughts on the mental strength shows by Denny Hamlin at Dover.

Kenny Wallace Brands Denny Hamlin as “One of the Strongest Mental People” in NASCAR

Kenny Wallace and Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO and @txtihxmlin/X)

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Joe Gibbs Racing’s 44-year-old Denny Hamlin proved yet again he still the big dog of the sport, securing an impressive win on Sunday at Dover. It was his consecutive win at the track, fourth win of the 2025 season and 58th career Cup win. Ex-racer Kenny Wallace and many in the racing community was impressed with the JGR drivers’ mental strength after the triumph.

Thorough his career, Denny Hamlin was seen as the villain by the community, and he has embraced the role, using his urge to silence the haters to his advantage. He thrived under the pressure of recent issues with 23XI Racing’s charter lawsuit and the struggle of dueling his teammate for the win at Dover. This impressed both his rival Kyle Larson and ex-racer Kenny Wallace.

Kyle Larson said what Denny Hamlin did today was very impressive. Denny’s got the ability to be at the high lane and keep his car rolling fast and just battled it out.

Kenny Wallace said via his YouTube channel.

Further talking about the point, Wallace highlighted how Hamlin is someone that knows how to thrive under the pressure from haters. He pointed out that the JGR driver silence the haters just like he does, when his ex-Cup champion brother Rusty Wallace gets disrespected by some shit talkers in the racing community.

Denny Hamlin knows that you guys don’t like him, but he says he loves it. The one thing I learned about Denny Hamlin, just like Rusty Wallace, when people would talk s*** about my big brother, I take a drink of my coffee and I’m like ‘You’ve done f*cked up.’

Kenny Wallace added.

The veteran dirt racer is both impressed and shocked at the same time regarding the mental strength, as well as the competitiveness shown by Denny Hamlin, as he doesn’t care about any outside noises when he is in the car. This will enable him to leave a legacy of a Hall of Fame legacy and be one of the athletes with string mentality the sport has scene.

It shocks me that Denny Hamlin can go out and win these races, and he hears all these noises going on. My friends, Denny Hamlin is one of the greats. He’s a Hall of Famer; he will go down in history as one of the strongest mental people I’ve ever witnessed.

Kenny Walace asserted.

Denny Hamlin had a stressful night racing his teammate in overtime

One of the biggest challenge Denny Hamlin had to face was racing his teammates in the overtime restart. He had to race against first Christopher Bell, who wrecked himself and later Chase Briscoe for the win. Hamlin made sure he didn’t cross the line when defending his teammates, just like the respected him and that moments were really stressful for the driver.

Denny Hamlin (via Getty)
Denny Hamlin (via Getty)

Ultimately, I got the better end of all the restarts in the end, but it was certainly stressful to have to overcome those three overtime finishes there, or however many cautions it was. It was a tough battle.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

All three Joe Gibbs Racing driver that was involved in the situation was pretty respectful while racing, exactly what the team’s owner Joe Gibbs wanted. If it was any other drivers he was racing at the end, there would have been a lot of aggressive move and potentially another wreck, causing another overtime restart. But fortunately for JGR and Hamlin, things played out exactly how he wanted.

Also Read: Joey Logano Reveals His “Favorite” Cup Championship Victory