The 2025 Daytona 500 was supposed to be NASCAR’s grandest stage—a battle of skill, strategy, and speed. Instead, it turned into a wreck-fest lottery, where aggressive racing and unavoidable crashes dictated the outcome. Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion, has had enough, and he’s not afraid to say it.
On the latest episode of his podcast, “Actions Detrimental,” Hamlin ripped into the current state of Superspeedway racing, blaming the Next-Gen cars for robbing the sport of the skill and strategy that once defined NASCAR’s biggest race.
Hamlin: “The Art of Racing Is Gone”
For years, Daytona and Talladega were the proving grounds where only the best could conquer the treacherous, high-speed packs. According to Hamlin, that’s no longer the case.
“We used to run 200 miles an hour at Superspeedways, and the cars were hard to really drive and handle. The Daytona 500 was a battle of the best driver and the best team that brought the best car that had a great setup under it.”
“Some of the greats of our sport could navigate the traffic and use it to their advantage. That art is gone now, just like the art of passing on short tracks is gone now.”
In Hamlin’s eyes, the 2025 edition of the Great American Race was nothing more than survival of the luckiest, rather than a showcase of racing prowess. With crashes eliminating contenders left and right, the final result came down to who managed to avoid the carnage, rather than who had the best car or made the smartest moves.
“Daytona 500 Is a F*ing Crapshoot Now”**
As a driver, Hamlin is frustrated. But as a team owner at 23XI Racing, his anger runs even deeper. He invests millions to build competitive, race-winning cars—only to watch them get taken out in crashes that he believes are inevitable under the current ruleset.
“I spend so much money at 23XI to ensure my team and my drivers have the best cars available to go out there and compete for a win. But it’s just such a f*ing crapshoot now.”**
That’s not the kind of language you’d expect from one of the sport’s veterans, but it sums up the frustration of many drivers and team owners who feel like superspeedway racing has lost its essence.
“The Cars Are Too Easy to Drive”
So what’s the root of the problem? The Next-Gen car, according to Hamlin. The veteran driver believes NASCAR’s latest generation of Cup cars has made Superspeedway racing too artificial—giving drivers too much security, too much grip, and not enough of a challenge to separate the greats from the pack.
“The cars are way too easy to drive. They have way too much grip, way too much drag, and what it does is it creates a great optic on TV that these cars are two by two, three by three, but ain’t nobody passing nobody.”
“We’re out there just riding and saving fuel throughout the greater part of the race.”
For Hamlin, Daytona and Talladega used to be about the craft of working through the draft, positioning yourself, and making the right moves at the right time. But with today’s cars, drivers are trapped in a three-wide train, unable to make meaningful moves—until, of course, the inevitable Big One strikes.
What’s Next? Will NASCAR Fix This?
Hamlin’s comments aren’t just a post-race rant—they’re an alarm bell for NASCAR.
The fans want intense, high-stakes racing. The drivers want control over their destiny, not a coin flip to decide who survives the wrecks. The owners want their investments to actually have a chance to succeed, rather than getting wiped out through no fault of their own.
So what can NASCAR do?
- Adjust the aerodynamics to make cars harder to control and less likely to stall out in traffic.
- Reduce downforce and grip to put more responsibility on driver skill.
- Re-evaluate race strategies to prevent races from being just fuel-saving processions until the final 10 laps.
Will NASCAR listen to the drivers and make changes? Or will the Daytona 500 continue to be more about luck than talent? That remains to be seen. But if veterans like Hamlin are already this frustrated, something needs to change before Superspeedway racing loses all its credibility.
