“I Took It Personally!” Denny Hamlin Takes Epic Dig at Michael Jordan After Cup Three-peat

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has produced yet another masterclass on Sunday, as he won the Pocono Cup race, outrunning Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell in the final laps. It marked the third straight win of the season for the No:11 team, making it five victory lane visits in 2026 with one of them being the Dover All-Star race triumph.

The win has helped the veteran to reduce the championship points gap to just 19 against leader Reddick, who has won five races this season, which also increase a three-peat. One key reason behind the victory was the motivation to beat Michael Jordan, his close friend and 23XI Racing co-owner.

They love to tease each other, and the impressive season of the No:45 team has been something that MJ always used during trash talks. That’s why soon after the win, the veteran racer shared an image on his social media, that was collage of the NBA kissing Hamlin’s head after Kansas win of Reddick and in the bottom, the JGR driver’ photo overlaid on the Billionaire’s iconic ‘I took it personally’ meme.

pic.twitter.com/hGSpJnJERP

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) June 15, 2026

On his post-race interview with Amazon Prime Denny Hamlin talked about the pep-talk from Michael Jordan ahead of the last off-season. He wanted his friend to get back to winning ways, after the heartbreaking championship loss to Kyle Larson in the 2025 season finale at Phoenix, and that redemption run is going on strong in 2026.

I’ll never forget Michael, when he addressed 23XI in the off-season, he says, ‘What I’m interested to see is what does Denny do.’ He said, ‘after what happened in Phoenix, you either pick yourself up and you respond or you fold. We’ll find out.’ He’s finding out.

Denny Hamlin told Amazon Prime post-race.

Denny Hamlin has juts one goal in this stage of his racing career

In the same Prime Video interview, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran pointed out that at this moment of his career he has one goal, win as many races as possible. He and his crew chief is operating with this “win win win” moto, while not caring about the championship spot.

I’m just at this point in my career trying to stack as many wins as possible. Points, whatever. Wherever we finish in the championship, whatever. To me it’s like ‘wins, wins, wins.’ What is your win percentage? That’s what I really, really am trying to continue on a run.

Denny Hamlin said.

Further talking about the point, the JGR driver highlighted how the No:11 team has missed out on multiple wins in the 2026 season. The only difference in the last few weeks has been the fact that they are executing better and that’s is earning him success.

Yeah, we won four, but man, we could easily have a lot right now. So, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve had a year where it’s been this wild and crazy being able to execute. That has been the biggest difference. The last month compared to earlier in the season, the speed is no different, it’s just that the execution is better.

Denny Hamlin added.

The comments from the veteran are on point, as he is now winning races not because he has a huge pace advantage, it is because they are executing much better than anyone in the garage. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the remaining races of the season.

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