NASCAR: Is Denny Hamlin good or bad for the sport?

Denny Hamlin has recently become a villain in the NASCAR Cup Series, perhaps even dethroning his teammate Kyle Busch as the top villain in the sport. Is he good or bad for the sport?

Denny Hamlin, the driver of the #11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, has quickly risen to the top of the unofficial “Most Hated Drivers” list for several reasons, with many of those reasons stemming from recent occurrences involving the 37-year-old.

At the beginning of last October, Hamlin controversially stated that he feels NASCAR drivers are “underpaid”. Meanwhile, he raked in $15,200,000 last year, a total that trailed only the totals of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. among NASCAR drivers’ totals.

Then later in the month in the opening race of the round of 8 in the playoffs at Martinsville, Hamlin spun out fan-favorite Chase Elliott with just over two laps to go in an attempt to win the race. The move kept Elliott from winning the race and ultimately advancing the Championship 4.

Most recently, prior to the Daytona 500, Hamlin made comments about fellow Cup Series drivers using Adderall. On the final lap of the race when Darrell Wallace Jr. attempted to side draft him for 2nd place and succeeded, Hamlin shoved him into the wall.

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Wallace Jr. jokingly made a reference to Hamlin’s Adderall comments after the race as a result of Hamlin shoving him into the wall, and Hamlin, despite the fact that he made the original joke about Adderall, took offense to these comments. The two drivers had a heated confrontation before Hamlin took to Twitter and went on a rant about the situation.

It’s not a stretch to say that Hamlin is at least near Kyle Busch’s level if not beyond it when it comes to being NASCAR’s most hated driver. The question is, is Hamlin good for the sport? At the end of the day, the answer to this question is probably yes despite the fact that it may seem like there are plenty of times when he is not good for certain drivers and fans and thus not good for the sport.

Hamlin’s antics create storylines and get people riled up, thus leading to much more excitement surrounding even what would otherwise seem like average race weekends. As a result, more people follow along with the sport closer than they otherwise would, as there will likely be more drama and more interesting battles to watch and storylines to follow.

In an era where drivers such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are now all ex-drivers, NASCAR needs to retain all of the fans that it can. A driver like Hamlin, who most fans can passionately root against without hesitation as a result of his antics, can keep current fans engaged and perhaps even draw in new fans to the sport.

While it may have happened at some point, it’s extremely hard to see fans completely leaving NASCAR over Hamlin’s behavior and Hamlin’s behavior alone. It simply would not make sense. All sports have their villains, and NASCAR is no exception to that.

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If anything, Hamlin is good for NASCAR in that way, and if you have read any of my previous writing, you know that I am no fan of his. He may be bad for certain fans and drivers at different times, but at the end of the day, who’s the driver getting fans talking and more excited about watching races on weekends? Regardless of whether or not you are a fan of him, do you believe that Denny Hamlin is good for NASCAR? Why or why not?

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