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Denny Hamlin believes it is time for the NASCAR Hall of Fame to back it down on how many people it enshrines each year.
Denny Hamlin never shies away from calling it just like he sees it when opining on his weekly Actions Detrimental podcast. The latest episode was no exception.
Weighing in on the recent debate among some top NASCAR influencers, including 15-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., about whether induction in the NASCAR Hall of Fame should be reserved at least primarily for Cup Series drivers, Hamlin took a hard stance on the hot-button issue.
Rest assured you’ll want to read on to see what the three-time Daytona 500 winner and 2025 Cup Series championship runner-up had to say on this touchy subject.
Denny Hamlin Supports a More Selective Approach to Who Gets in The Hall
Since the NASCAR Hall of Fame enshrined its first class of inductees in 2010, they’ve been joined by 65 more legends of the sport. However, in an effort not to induct too many people too quickly, NASCAR decided in 2021 to dial back the size of its annual Hall of Fame class from five to three.
Now, with another three-member, albeit yet-to-be-named, class set to enter the Hall in 2027, Hamlin thinks it’s time to reduce the number of yearly inductees even more.
“Maybe some years, zero get in,” he said on his podcast. “There’s just not that many people (worthy of induction). I don’t know why there has to be a certain amount every time. We’re going to run out of people.
“I think that in the next 15 years, someone with 10 Cup Series wins, we’re going to be talking about Hall of Fame (for them). I’m serious. You’re just going to run out of people. Or you’re going to just lower the standards and say, ‘OK, alright, let’s look at someone that’s won one Xfinity championship and 15 races.’”
Unlike Earnhardt Jr., a staunch proponent of opening the Hall to participants across all three major NASCAR stock car divisions, Hamlin favors reserving Hall of Fame enshrinement primarily for those who’ve reached the Cup Series and excelled at the sport’s highest level.
“Are you F****** serious?” 😬
@TravisRockhold had an unpopular opinion on NASCAR Hall of Fame eligibility. Y’all be the judge!
“It’s unfortunate that maybe some of the greats never got the opportunity at the next level, but we can’t do the hypotheticals,” said Hamlin, a 61-time Cup Series race winner. “We can’t say, ‘They were great, and they accomplished all this at the lower level, and they would have been great had they gotten an opportunity.’
“You can’t say that when it comes to Hall of Fames. You have to just go by what is, not what could have been.”
Denny Hamlin Expects Blowback for His Take on Hall of Fame
Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental that he doesn’t plan to use his “X” account to reiterate his opinion on the need for a more selective approach to picking NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees.
But he expects to nevertheless hear from those on the social media platform who want the proverbial doors to the Hall of Fame to be flung wide open.
“Do you know how @ they’re going to be in my mentions because their grandfather’s uncle’s brother worked on Joe Jerry’s Modified and he deserves to get in?” Hamlin said. “I get it. It’s just my opinion. I just think that it diminishes Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace and the Dale Earnhardts.
“And, come on, man: They deserve to be at the pinnacle of their sport. And the pinnacle is the Hall of Fame. I just don’t believe in skipping the steps to go straight to the pinnacle.”
You know we HAD to get Denny’s take on last week’s Hall of Fame debate… 👀
Jared Turner A NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports since April 2026, Jared Turner brings more than 20 years of motorsports journalism experience to the role. Before graduating magna cum laude with a degree in mass communication from Virginia Tech, he was already working as a reporter for one of Virginia’s largest newspapers, The Roanoke Times where he covered the local short-track scene in Southwest Virginia and beyond. Since then, Jared has held full-time or freelance writing roles for FOX Sports, NASCAR.com, SPEED Channel, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene Magazine, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, Frontstretch.com, Sportscasting.com, The Greensboro News & Record and the Daily Downforce. An award-winning writer, he has interviewed around 25 NASCAR Hall of Famers, covered three Daytona 500s on-site, and been published in more than 50 NASCAR souvenir programs. More about Jared Turner
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