“It’s a tough spot”: Denny Hamlin speaks on 23XI Racing’s bittersweet mood, backs Bubba Wallace’s growth

Denny Hamlin opened up on 23XI Racing's bittersweet mood following Sunday's Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. Hamlin, the driver for the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI Racing alongside retired NBA icon and billionaire, Michael Jordan.

Founded in 2020, 23XI Racing fields two cars in the Cup Series: the No. 45 and the No. 23 driven by Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, respectively. With the regular season finale over, Reddick got pushed to the top of the leaderboard. The two-time Xfinity Series champion earned this year's regular season championship. However, things were different for his teammate.

Wallace could not make it out of the playoff bubble. Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe won the Southern 500 and clinched the 14th playoff spot. Hamlin's JGR teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs grabbed the last two playoff spots as the only winless drivers to do so.

"It's a tough spot because you wanna celebrate with your team that accomplished something great; Tyler Reddick, that whole 45 team, and what they were able to do this year for the first 26 races," Denny Hamlin said in a recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. "Then you also gotta put your arm around the other and say, 'Keep digging, that's just part of the process...it's part of getting better.'"

"We've seen throughout Bubba's 23XI career that he continues to get better when it comes to how many points is he scoring, how many top-5s, how many top-10s. He's progressing in the manner that we're hoping that he progresses," Hamlin added.

Wallace, although winless this year, delivered five top-5s and 10 top-10s in 26 starts. He has led 119 laps altogether. In his last 10 races before the Southern 500, Wallace recorded two top-5s and three top-10s. Speaking of which, Hamlin said,

"Truly enough if you can find a way to bottle up whatever has been inside you for the last 10 races and just copy and paste it for the next year for the 26 races, you won't have this discussion. You won't be on the bubble."

Meanwhile, NASCAR prepares to host the Round of 16 opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8th. Fans can watch the 260-lap event on NBC and USA from 3 PM ET onwards.

Denny Hamlin deals with "killer" penalty ahead of NASCAR's playoff rumble

Denny Hamlin prepares to mount his No. 11 car moments before Snday's race - Source: Imagn

Denny Hamlin recently suffered a penalty that docked him and his team 75 points from the driver's and the owner's championships, respectively, besides taking 10 playoff points away. Furthermore, Hamlin's crew chief Chris Gabehart was handed a $100,000 fine.

The L-2 penalty was issued after the No. 11 JGR team violated NASCAR's engine inspection requirements. Per reports, Toyota Racing Development had removed the seal off of Hamlin's Bristol-winning race engine, disassembled and rebuilt it before NASCAR could take a look.

"I need to go win Kansas," said Hamlin who has four wins at the 1.500-mile, tri-oval intermediate speedway. "Yeah, need to go win Kansas. That’ll be my mindset, for sure. But you know, if not, then I’ll, you know, I’m going to do the best I can, every single week."

"But obviously, it’s just a huge setback, with this type of format. It’s just...it’s a killer," he explained, recalling the penalty.

With the points reset after the regular season finale, Denny Hamlin sits 6th in the Cup Series standings with 2015 points to his name. Will he finally earn his first championship title this season? A little speculation about the same perhaps would not hurt.