Denny Hamlin sarcastically plays down rivalry suggestion with “favorite NASCAR person”

Denny Hamlin rekindled his light-hearted rivalry with NASCAR official Mike Forde after the Talladega race weekend. While their debate over the costs of the 'run what you brung' All-Star Race continued, a new and unexpected feud emerged on race day, as Atlanta Braves legend Chipper Jones criticized Joey Logano.

At the end of Stage 2 at Talladega, Logano lost out on the stage win after his teammate, Austin Cindric, lifted to avoid a wreck. Logano blasted Cindric over the radio for helping Bubba Wallace, prompting Chipper Jones to criticize Logano’s outburst. The Braves legend later celebrated Logano’s disqualification and Cindric’s win.

Aside from the Jones-Logano spat, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications, Mike Forde, called out Denny Hamlin for exaggerating the costs of the ‘run what you brung’ race. Hamlin responded with a sarcastic post on X, reigniting their previous feud, when they debated over Twitter bots affecting NASCAR’s perspective.

With two rivalries brewing from the Talladega weekend, motorsports reporter Pete Pistone suggested that the Forde-Hamlin feud was spicier than the Jones-Logano clash.

"Joey Logano vs. Chipper Jones < Mike Forde vs. Denny Hamlin" he wrote on X.

Denny Hamlin responded to Pete Pistone's post, claiming that Mike Forde was his favorite NASCAR official and joked that he’d never make Forde’s son choose between them.

"Mike IS my favorite NASCAR person. Id never make his son choose between supporting me or his dad :)" he wrote on X.

23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin previously engaged in a social media spat with Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith last year. As the exchange turned personal, both eventually apologized and reconciled.

While Chipper Jones and Joey Logano's online spat was brief, Mike Forde and Hamlin's social media feud may persist, with both deeply involved in the sport for the long term.

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Exploring Denny Hamlin and Mike Forde's contrasting opinions

After reports surfaced that NASCAR teams declined the 'run what you brung' proposal for the All-Star Race, Denny Hamlin expanded on the decision. He said that it would cost over $2 million for a three-car team to build a modified next-gen car, which wasn't a practical move for a $1 million prize.

"But I'm going to spend a million dollars just in parts and pieces that we haven't even developed anything yet. So just in parts and pieces to replace all this that we're going to modify, we're going to spend a ton of money and it only pays 1 million to win," he said on the Actions Detrimental podcast. (17:06 onwards)

Mike Forde refuted Hamlin's claims on the Hauler Talk podcast. Forde asserted that developing a one-off car for the All-Star Race would not incur additional costs. He clarified that teams were not allowed to modify the chassis and still had to use single-source parts, while some areas were open for modification.

"Denny talked about how this would cost potentially $2 million if we went ahead and did this. I think his math was off by about $2 million; what actually it could cost is zero dollars or potentially save teams money," Forde said on the podcast. [30:25 onwards]

NASCAR Cup teams will not field a modified next-gen car for the 250-lap All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 18.