In April 2024, one of the most contentious social media spats erupted. For decades, Speedway Motorsports Inc. has owned most of the racetracks on NASCAR’s schedule. Over recent years, SMI’s tendency to introduce frequent reconfigurations, add new tracks while scrapping older ones has drawn the Cup Series drivers’ ire. One of those drivers was Denny Hamlin, who could not help but slip into an ugly exchange with Marcus Smith, but it has been a while.
Marcus Smith, CEO of SMI, has been in the sport for decades. Smith accurately knows the number of times his corporation has clashed with drivers over racetracks. Hence, the NASCAR executive admitted to letting things calm down between him and Denny Hamlin.
Denny Hamlin invited his online rival to golf
Well, the main issue sprang around Sonoma Raceway, where the NASCAR Cup Series competed last weekend. Over a year before Shane van Gisbergen dazzled people with a third back-to-back road course victory, the 1.99-mile circuit was peeling off despite a recent repave. So, Denny Hamlin, the ever-vocal statesman of the sport, took to social media. “Ignorance on display for the world to see,” Hamlin tweeted in April 2024. Then Marcus Smith shot back at him, urging him to take down the tweet. But things only spiraled from there, with Hamlin bringing up Smith’s ownership of his family business, and the latter bringing up Hamlin’s lack of a championship. Ultimately, both parties issued apologies on X, acknowledging that “it got more personal than it should have.”
Standing in July 2025, things are more hunky dory than you would imagine. On a recent episode of ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’, Marcus Smith showed up as a special guest. While discussing the same topics that would get on Denny Hamlin’s nerves, he revealed an endearing reality. Kevin Harvick really wanted to know, “Are you and Denny Hamlin okay now?” Then, Smith replied that hobbies and family got in the way of the feud: “I think we’re good. He invited me to his golf tournament which is coming up, which is very nice of him. Will support, I can’t make it, ’cause I’m gonna be at the…Our son’s getting married. It’s wild.”
Well, it does look like a buried hatchet, no doubt. However, Marcus Smith’s outlandish ideas have irked not just Denny Hamlin but other drivers as well. He has been criticized for the disastrous Texas reconfiguration and for altering the Atlanta track. Then, Smith has stuck to the Charlotte Roval (which Chase Elliott described as a ‘parking lot’), whereas most drivers wanted a return to the oval. Even Stephen Swift, in charge of ISC’s track preparation and development, is not so popular. Shortly after the Atlanta reconfiguration in July 2021, he issued a controversial comment about favoring fans’ opinions over drivers.
Such a streak of unfavorable decisions may be continuing into the present day. Despite ameliorating their bond off the racetrack, Denny Hamlin may not hold the same approach inside the sport.
Axing the momentum gained
Yes, the momentum of Denny Hamlin and Marcus Smith’s happy bond. In 2025, Hamlin has already criticized a number of things related to Smith’s field of work. Circuit of the Americas entered the sport in 2021 and has been a big success in terms of road courses. However, shortly after his teammate Christopher Bell won the race, Hamlin said in March that it may not come back next year. It depends on “how much they charge” Smith, as he mockingly said. Then, the 2025 All-Star Race had a novelty that was not particularly popular in the garage. It featured a competition caution that Marcus Smith could throw at any point of the race. And Hamlin derisively said, “I don’t know how it’s much different from what we already have, truthfully.”
To add fuel to the fire, Marcus Smith is now coming up with more wild ideas. The SMI owner spilled the beans of a radical idea involving Bristol Motor Speedway to Kevin Harvick: “The dream, I think the thing that would be awesome to do, and we could do it, is to put a roof on Bristol one day. I would love that. Then, the things you could do there, it would be – you know, we’ve got a baseball game coming up next month in Bristol. We’ve done a football game. We could do WrestleMania. You could have, who knows what, the biggest UFC fight in the world.” We are not sure what Denny Hamlin thinks about this yet, but it might not be a great opinion. The fumes of cars in an enclosed environment would probably not work well.
The old feud may have died out with time. However, Marcus Smith’s position in NASCAR may allow room for Denny Hamlin to pick up arms yet again.
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