Denny Hamlin reveals he told Dale Earnhardt Jr. he couldn’t believe what NASCAR and Goodyear decided for the Iowa showdown

Denny Hamlin revealed a recent conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr. about the lack of tire falloff at Iowa Speedway. He expressed frustration over NASCAR and Goodyear's tire selection that produced minimal passing opportunities.

Hamlin began Sunday's (August 3) race just outside the top-10 and maintained his pace until multiple cautions shuffled the grid. His day went to the gutter when he spun out from contact during a four-wide battle after a restart, relegating him to a 24th place finish.

In a race marked by 12 cautions that slowed the field for 72 laps, race leader William Byron chose to extend his fuel mileage window to eventually grab the win, a strategy that's increasingly becoming the norm nowadays. Without tire degradation, teams shift focus to fuel efficiency over fresh rubber, resulting in extended green flag stints that effectively locks the field in place.

Reflecting upon the same, Hamlin took a shot at Goodyear for missing the mark on their tire selection.

"When the leader catches the 30th place car, it just takes him forever to work them over because there's not enough difference in speed from that car to that car. And then when you look at the course of the run, I sent Dale Jr a screenshot of this on Saturday night and I said, "Can you believe that we tire tested here,....and this is the tire that they came up with, is the one that had zero fall off after 50 laps," he said via Youtube/Actions Detrimental. [ 8:40 onwards]

"How in the world do you expect us to put on a good race when everyone's going to run the same speed," he added.

Up next, NASCAR heads to a road course in Watkins Glen International, a track where Hamlin previously came close to a win in 2023. Notably, he'd also scored a pole for the event, but could only manage to lead 3 laps.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. relates to Bubba Wallace backlash over winless streak

Dale Earnhardt jr. recently recalled a time in his career when he faced backlash over an extended dry spell, much like Bubba Wallace's recent 100-race winless streak. In an episode of Dale Jr. Download, he explained how people were quick to call him overrated once his results dropped off.

“I’ve been in those situations where you have a long dry spell and everybody’s talking sh*t, and that’s when people think you’re overrated. They come out and they’re all like, ‘Yep, see he’s overrated, man, and he’s getting all this attention,’” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. [50:09 onwards]

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s comments on Bubba Wallace's winless streak. Source: Youtube/Dirty Mo Media

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a winless drought that began in 2008 and ended 143 starts later, in 2012 at Michigan International Speedway. He endured for five more years in the Cup Series before retiring from full-time competition.