Charlotte Motor Speedway, that beast of a track with its 1.5-mile oval and a reputation that’s as tough as they come, was the stage for the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, where Denny Hamlin etched his name into the history books. It was a night race, 400 laps of relentless action that saw 31 lead changes for five hours that kept the fans on the edge of their seats. Very few racetracks can produce such a blockbuster, especially with the Next Gen car. This was Hamlin’s first-ever triumph at the crown jewel NASCAR race, but it didn’t come easily.
Well, for the purist, Hamlin wasn’t the deserving winner as he was at the right place at the right time. Kyle Larson, who started from the rear, overcame three pit-road penalties and was within touching distance of a win with just 1 lap to go in regulation time. But Chase Briscoe spun, and that led to a double overtime finish. Larson got wrecked, while Hamlin beat his teammate, Kyle Busch, to the finish line by 0.014 seconds. The season’s longest race is unpredictable, and heading into Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, the veteran JGR driver knows how gruelling the racing will be.
Hamlin explains how demanding the Coca-Cola 600 is in seven words: “It tests you in every single way.” This isn’t just a throwaway line; it’s a declaration of the track’s unforgiving nature. “So it’s just 600 miles around that track, 400 laps is a long long time,” Hamlin said on his podcast Actions Detrimental, after the All-Star race. He’s been on both the sweet and the bitter end of things at Charlotte. After winning the race in 2022, he had to settle for a DNF during the 2023 feature, thanks to a rivalry brewing between him and Chase Elliott. But, racing at Charlotte requires more than controlling tempers and door-to-door action.
“So we’re going to go through some track changes, whether it be day or night, there’s some versatility you gotta have, it’s a big test on the pit crew, there’s gotta be tons of pit stops. It tests you in every single way, and we’ve seen some fuel mileage races there, we’ve seen some great finishes, last lap passes, it pretty much has it all, which is why we’re all a big fan of the Charlotte oval.” Hamlin explained further.
There’s also the weather element that, for some reason, has plagued this event two years in a row now. In 2023, the race was scheduled on Sunday, May 28. But the heavy downpour of the rain showers forced NASCAR to move the race ahead to a Monday start. Last year was a similar story; the race was mired by stoppages, and ultimately it was called off after running 249 of the 400 laps. Christopher Bell, who led 90 laps and was on the lead before the storm interrupted racing, was declared the winner. So, the destiny of the final outcome isn’t always in the hands of the drivers at the Coca-Cola 600.
May 29, 2022; Concord, North Carolina, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) wins the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Apart from the crown jewel race, the 3-time Daytona 500 winner also shared his thoughts on the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro. And let’s just say, he didn’t hold back while sharing his honest take on Joey Logano’s emotional rant after losing $1 million to Christopher Bell.
Denny Hamlin calls Joey Logano ‘Butthurt’
The All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro was a wild one, ending with Christopher Bell pocketing a cool $1 million by edging out Joey Logano in the final laps. It was that newfangled promoter’s caution, thrown with 35 laps to go, that shook things up, bunching the field and setting the stage for a dramatic finish. Logano, who was poised to win back-to-back All-Star Races, was left fuming. “I’m all about no gimmicks with the caution. I am all about that. I’m a little — me and Marcus Smith aren’t seeing eye to eye right now, okay? I’ve got to have a word with him,” Logano said, his frustration boiling over. It’s unclear if a chat with Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith will change anything, but Logano’s not holding back.
Denny Hamlin, who finished 12th in the race, had his own take on the situation. “I think if we did any complaining, we needed to do it before the race and not post it simply because we might not agree with it. I think it accomplished what it was designed to accomplish. We can argue the merits of whether it should or should not have been there. But I disagree with us talking about it post-race because it affected you in a negative way.”
Hamlin did not mince words here, suggesting that Logano and his team knew the rules going in. “The No. 22 thought they had the best car. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. They certainly were one of them. When you don’t win, you get butt hurt,” he added, his jab at Logano’s frustration clear. If this back-and-forth continues, who knows, we might see Team Penske vs. JGR during the Coca-Cola 600, and it will be an entertaining watch for the fans.
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