Denny Hamlin welcomes NASCAR plans despite Richard Petty's rant
Denny Hamlin asserted that he'd welcome the inclusion of another NASCAR race held at a street circuit despite Richard Petty's recent rant against road courses.
Denny Hamlin voiced his support for the addition of another NASCAR race held at a street circuit — though motorsports legend Richard Petty doesn’t exactly seem thrilled by the idea.
Next month, the Cup Series will travel back to the streets of Chicago for the Grant Park 165, which Alex Bowman won last year once torrential downpours brought a premature end to the event. Arby’s will now serve as the founding partner for the upcoming race after McDonald's ended its partnership with NASCAR in January.
According to The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi, it likely won’t be long before another street race is added to the Cup Series calendar. NASCAR is reportedly finalizing a deal to host an event on a street circuit in the San Diego area as soon as next year.
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Hamlin, for one, is more than open to the prospect of once again racing in Southern California. "I don't hate it," he said on the latest episode of the ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast. "I certainly think that San Diego sounds like a place I'd like to go. I mean, sure, I guess.
"It seems like they're really in favor of street races out. So, if they're hellbent on it, San Diego seems like a destination to do that."
Not everyone is excited to see NASCAR venture out to more non-oval tracks, however. On the heels of the Viva Mexico 250 — during which Shane Van Gisbergen secured a dominant victory at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez despite feeling under the weather — Petty slammed the current playoff system and inclusion of road courses in the Cup Series.
"The way they got this thing fixed, where if you win, you're in,” he explained. “That can't be right. You got somebody that's 30th in points that's going to make the playoffs. Hey man, what happened to the guy that 15th, or 16th, or 18th [that's] been running good [and] finished good everywhere?
"You're making a championship situation by winning a road course, which is not really NASCAR to begin with. From that standpoint, I think they're going to have to jockey around and change some of this kind of stuff."
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While Dale Earnhardt Jr. understood where Petty’s anger was coming from, the 50-year-old argued that the inclusion of road and street courses helps ensure that the Cup Series champion is truly the all-around best driver on the grid. "I agree with Richard Petty. NASCAR stock car racing is predominantly an oval-based series. Always has been,” he began.
“We have removed some ovals, we've removed some tracks, added some road courses. I'm fine with that because I do like the idea that our drivers need to be great at all things. If you're going to be a champion, you now have to be as good at a road course as you are at an oval. Back when I started driving, you didn't. You could f------ suck at the road course as long as you were good everywhere else."
