NASCAR: Denny Hamlin misses fans yelling ‘F U’, ‘You suck!’

After winning at Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin admitted that he misses hearing shouts of “F U” and “You suck!” from fans after winning NASCAR Cup Series races.

After Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin secured his series-leading fourth victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season at Pocono Raceway, where he is now tied with four-time champion Jeff Gordon for the most victories with six, he spoke about what it is like to continue to race in front of no fans.

Just four races were contested this season before the coronavirus pandemic struck and caused a 10-week hiatus from Cup Series action. There have now been 11 races contested since NASCAR returned on Sunday, May 17 at Darlington Raceway, and only two featured any fans in the stands.

Hamlin, who won the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in front of tens of thousands of fans, has won three times since the 70-day hiatus ended a little under a month and a half ago.

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Only one of those wins came with any fans in attendance, with that being his win at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, June 14 when roughly 1,000 invitees were in-person spectators.

As for his success at Pocono Raceway, all five of Hamlin’s previous victories at the track had come with several thousand fans in attendance, most recently his win there late last July, which started a late-season surge that saw him go all the way to the Championship 4 for the first time since 2014.

Asked whether it was different at Pocono Raceway with no fans than it was at Talladega Superspeedway last week with a very limited number of fans, nowhere near the amount there would have been without the threat of COVID-19, Hamlin said it was still a bit different since even just a few fans can be heard, whereas things are dead silent with nobody there.

“Yeah, it is a little different,” Hamlin stated. “You can hear the crowd. Even though it’s just a few thousand at Talladega, you can definitely feel the crowd and the atmosphere, even with a small amount, versus kind of the boneyard you got out here today. A part of it’s definitely different.”

One thing he added is that he misses hearing the insults that come from the fans when he wins like he did at the Tricky Triangle on Sunday evening.

“I wish, especially when you’re on a roll like we are, we could live it up, get excited, kind of hear the fans give you a big F U, you suck, all that stuff. But maybe another day.”

The next race on the schedule is the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400, which is scheduled to take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Sunday, July 5. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET. No fans will be allowed in attendance for this race.