"I do not care": Denny Hamlin owns up to taunting fans with iconic celebration at Michigan

Following his third win of the season, Denny Hamlin celebrated by taunting the fans who were booing him at Michigan. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver rehashed his iconic phrase, 'I beat your favorite driver' in front of a mix chorus of cheers and boos on Sunday.

During a post-race media availability session, Denny Hamlin opened up on his celebration, including adding a new twist on his 'beat your' dialogue.

"I thought about saying it a few other times. With my dad… This one, Son knows best. Just going to have to live with it," he said.

Hamlin mentioned that while he promised his friends a burnout in turns three and four if he won the race, he wasn't ultimately satisfied with what he ended up doing. He admitted that he had to 'cut short' his burnout because he was 'nearly out of gas.'

When asked by a reporter whether he relishes playing the role of the villain in NASCAR, Denny Hamlin said:

"It’s a lot of fun for me. I love making people feel a certain way. Positive or negative, I do not care. All the fans that I’ve been face to face with have been very respectful. What they say outside on the other side of the fence, free rein. Do whatever you want to do, say whatever you want to say. They’ve been very respectful in the small arena."

Hamlin claimed he thrives on doing such acts because he feels like he has 60,000 people rooting against him. And when he ends up celebrating in a certain way, Denny Hamlin added he finds the gratification from that 'really, really good.'

Denny Hamlin finds it fun to taunt his doubters when cheers take over the boos.

With Michigan being his third win of the season, it's worth mentioning that Denny Hamlin didn't taunt those who boo him in his previous two wins. Because of this, he was asked whether he had begun to find it boring with getting 'too many cheers.'

Hamlin claimed that until the crowed shifts to mostly cheers over boos, he would choose to 'antagonise the booers.'

"I got to find ways to have fun doing this. It’s such a grind and it’s so hard to win. I found myself winning races a few years ago and, like, I just moved on to Monday and it was on to the next track. I never really got to spend it celebrating. I took for granted I’m just going to win next week, I’m going to win the week after that. I just thought another one was going to always come," Hamlin elaborated.

With that said, it'll be interesting to see how Denny Hamlin's taunting at Michigan shapes his reception in the next few weeks of racing.