Growing up just down the road from Richmond Raceway in Chesterfield, Virginia, Denny Hamlin became a huge fan of the Virginia short track long ago.
And the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s personal affinity for the three-quarter-mile oval has only grown over the years, thanks to his success there. That success, most notably, includes five wins in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
Heading into Saturday night’s race, Hamlin also owned an impressive 24 top-10 finishes in 36 starts at his hometown track. And 20 of those top-10s were top-fives.
But even Hamlin, with all his love for Richmond, can’t justify the track immediately reclaiming the Cup Series race it lost when NASCAR decided to pull one of its two annual events starting with the 2025 season.
Why Is Denny Hamlin Not Pushing For Richmond To Again Host 2 Cup Series Races?
Known for decades as one of the most exciting tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series tour, Richmond Raceway has struggled in recent years to produce the brand of close-quarters, fender-banging action that made the track so popular.
That struggle, in Denny Hamlin’s view, is mostly a by-product of the Next Generation Cup Series car, which has been the object of widespread criticism from drivers since its 2022 debut.
The successor to the old Generation 6 Cup Series car has proven very difficult to pass with at certain tracks. Especially Richmond and Martinsville, two of NASCAR’s shortest and most beloved venues.
With the problems that drivers have experienced trying to pass, the overall quality of the racing has suffered. At Richmond, in particular, fans have witnessed fewer battles for position throughout the field and lots more single-file competition than the Generation 6 car produced. According to Hamlin, passing with the Next Generation car at Richmond has actually gotten worse, not better, in subsequent visits to the track.
“The first time here in the Next Gen was an average lap time seven-tenths (of a second) or something in that range,” Hamlin said on Friday at Richmond. “The last time we came here, it was three-and-a-half. The field is just now running the same speed. And at a track where you have to have three-to-three-and-a-half tenths of speed to overtake the car in front of you, that means the first-place fastest car is going to struggle to pass the 25th-place car if he just gets put behind him.
“That is the fundamental part that is going to be tough for us to overcome. Unless we have some major changes with the tire.”
Denny Hamlin Lauds Goodyear Efforts, But Not Convinced They’re Enough
Denny Hamlin commended Goodyear for bringing an “aggressive” tire to Richmond this weekend.
“You have to applaud that,” the three-time Daytona 500 winner said.
But Hamlin thinks work remains to be done with what he called “the attitude” of the Next Generation car.
“I’ve said it a million times on my podcast: You have to get rid of the underbody downforce and put it on the overbody so you have the ability, like you do in the Xfinity Series, to drive up behind someone and get them off the bottom,” he said. “That is when running the same speed will be OK. Because you can at least get close to the car in front of you to manipulate them and slow them down.”
While that’s a lot of technical, NASCAR-style jargon to take in, Hamlin’s point is clear. He believes the Next Generation has hurt the show at short tracks like Richmond.
“Now, the leader has the 100 percent advantage over the second-place car,” Hamlin said.
Passing seems to happen a lot more easily these days in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which uses a different car.
“The Xfinity Series is a little more even, a little more 50/50,” Hamlin said.
So, What About Richmond Getting That Second NASCAR Cup Series Date Back?
With the exception of 2020, Richmond Raceway hosted two annual NASCAR Cup Series weekends from 1959-2024. But Denny Hamlin has a hard time advocating for his home track to regain its status as a two-event host. At least for now.
“I think I’m probably the worst person to ask,” Hamlin said on Friday in the Richmond Raceway infield media center. “I’m very biased. I grew up with two races here. We always went to both. But the sport is in a different place now. The way to get it back is, you have to come here and sell out. At least the one time you are here. Or you just have a really strong showing during that time.”
From Hamlin’s perspective, declining fan attendance at Richmond over the last several years isn’t the only roadblock to awarding the track a second date, however.
“It’s that, and improve short track racing,” Hamlin said, continuing with his earlier theme. “If you can do those things, then possibly (Richmond having two races) is going to be put more in the forefront of the schedule, going forward. I think all of those things are fluid things that can change year to year.
“And if we can get our short track stuff back better with these types of cars, I think you will have a better case to having two races here.”
This, of course, begs an important question: If even Denny Hamlin won’t make the case for Richmond to get its second race back, who will?
