Denny Hamlin isn’t ever afraid to say what’s on his mind. And it doesn’t matter who. His latest target, Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver responded on X to a post about a torn-up section on the Sonoma Raceway, which included a photo with a large chunk of asphalt missing.
The original beef between @dennyhamlin and @MarcusSMI. pic.twitter.com/tlF6W5Q60f
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) April 6, 2024
“When paving on a budget goes wrong NWB will be next,” the three-time Daytona 500 champion suggested, referring to North Wilkesboro’s recent repave.
“This is a great post from somebody who doesn’t know all the information,” Smith replied. “Ignorance on display for the world to see! (I will delete this tweet when Denny Hamlin sends me a text or gives me a call directly to ask why this is happening.)”
“You don’t need to delete,” the driver countered. “We’ve seen your reconfig record.”
“Yes we take risks, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t,” the SMI exec responded. “We’ve seen your attempt of the championship as well. When you gave a chance, maybe you could give me some golf tips.”
“Heres your tip,” Hamlin said. “Let someone else run your business before you blow everything your dad gave you.”
“So proud of my dad! Hall of Famer!” Smith admitted. “If he had a Twitter/X account, I don’t think his comment would be family friendly. So listen here, almost NASCAR Champion, you keep working at it and one day you’re gonna get a big trophy! Thanks for the tip!”
Denny Hamlin and Smith Both Express Regret
On Friday, with some time for reflection, Smith was the first to respond to the feud from the night before.
Ill cosign this. I’ll definitely take responsibility for my part in it. It got more personal than it should have for sure. https://t.co/ppcqp0HlGo
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) April 5, 2024
“Following up on my previous posts, I take a lot of pride in the dedication and hard work our teammates put forth to make @NASCAR the very best it can be and I shouldn’t let social media conversations get personal, so I deleted those posts,” Smith wrote. “@dennyhamlin is a passionate driver and team owner and I’m truly looking forward to seeing him drive for a championship this year. Our team is working hard to fix some pavement issues @racesonoma and we will get it right. Let’s keep the positive momentum going in 2024!”
“Ill cosign this,” Hamlin replied. “I’ll definitely take responsibility for my part in it. It got more personal than it should have for sure.”
You think?
Both Hamlin and Smith might be nice to each other publicly and express regret for what they wrote, but the fact is they wrote it. Those thoughts were on their minds. And to be honest, the personal insults flung are not something anyone is going to just brush off and forget about anytime soon.