“Would create so much chatter and content”: Denny Hamlin’s Million dollar idea to make NASCAR exciting again

Denny Hamlin has offered a solution to make NASCAR more exciting with his mid-season tournament. Hamlin also outlined the rules for the five-week summer tournament, which is basically a head 2 head shootout between pairs of drivers.

Hamlin explained his ideas on his latest Actions Detrimental podcast. He also revealed that he had suggested NASCAR with this idea over 18 months ago. He shared his idea on Twitter, adding that this would grab attention in the summer when baseball is the only major sport taking place.

According to Hamlin, the tournament 'would create so much chatter and content' when NASCAR fans have nothing to do but wait for the playoff season. The #11 driver also suggested $3 million in prize money for the winner of the tournament.

Denny Hamlin wants the mid-season tournament to begin after the completion of ten races in the season. After 10 races, the five-week tournament begins, with the top 32 drivers in the standings to be seeded into the tournament.

Explaining the format on his podcast, he elaborated:

"We are going to have a bracket challenge, you have ten weeks to get yourself in the top 32 in points. Five weeks in a row, where you have a head to head competition and you're seeded based off where you are in points at week ten."

He continued:

"So the number one seed is whoever is first in points, they'll be going up against the 32nd-place guy in points this week. So on and so forth. Whoever wins between the two moves on to the next week. And that moves you on to the round of 16, then you're going to have head to heads once again, 16 down to eight, down to four, down to two."

Hamlin's elimination tournament is similar to basketball's playoff season, where the top seed fights the bottom seed. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver expects the tournament to create multiple storylines for the audience and increased betting options.

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Denny Hamlin suggests drivers would like the new format

After elaborating on his scheme, Denny Hamlin was optimistic that the tournament would be well-received by the drivers. He expects the drivers to be 'wildly competitive' in the mid-season tournament, fighting for the $3M prize money.

He added:

"I can tell you, as the drivers are concerned, we would be wildly competitive for this. This would create so many story lines and you would have no idea how much the teams would change their strategies in the middle of the race to beat whoever they're up against that given week to move on to the next round."

Hamlin's idea can be implemented as it won't disrupt the championship. The NASCAR Xfinity Series runs the Dash 4 Cash program, which also aims to grab attention in the mid-season.

NASCAR has been trying to keep the audience hooked throughout the regular season with various strategies. A few years down the line, Denny Hamlin's suggestions might be implemented with a tweak or two.