There has been a considerable amount of debate over the past week about who should be eligible for the NASCAR Hall of Fame and now Denny Hamlin has weighed in with his opinions as well.<\/p>\n
The debate centers around drivers who have had tremendous success at levels lower than the Cup Series and if they should continue to be enshrined alongside the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.<\/p>\n
This started because Dirty Mo Media producer and content director Travis Rockhold disagreed with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the potential for a driver like Justin Allgaier to be enshrined someday. Earnhardt believes that drivers with exceptional impact on the sport, even if they didn\u2019t have Cup Series success, should be eligible.<\/p>\n
Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday, Hamlin disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that most of the people that have adamant arguments for the lower series guys, they have a connection to them somehow. They are their friends, they grew up watching them or something. So, they have an emotional connection to those people. \u2018I want my guy in! He\u2019s my guy! He deserves to be in!\u2019 I think it just depends what you want the Hall of Fame to be,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cNow, I see that folks are making the statements that \u2018It\u2019s the NASCAR Hall of Fame.\u2019 Well, go ask anyone that is the very casual [fan] as in they know the NASCAR name \u2014 they\u2019re not watching \u2014 do they know that there\u2019s like six series of NASCAR? No, they know of Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Richard Petty. That\u2019s Sunday. They don\u2019t know about all the steps, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, people are using the \u2018Well, it\u2019s the NASCAR, they don\u2019t say it\u2019s the NASCAR Cup.\u2019 They\u2019re trying to make a point saying, \u2018Here\u2019s why everyone should get in because they didn\u2019t say it\u2019s the NASCAR Cup, it\u2019s all of NASCAR.\u2019 I hear ya but to me, and this is my opinion \u2014 it\u2019s not right, it\u2019s just my opinion \u2014 is that there\u2019s steps to your accomplishments in the sport. Winning at the grassroots, winning a championship at the grassroots, it\u2019s then winning at the regional level, winning a championship at the regional level, it\u2019s then winning races at your O\u2019Reilly and Trucks, winning a championship in those series, winning a race in Cup, then it\u2019s winning a championship in Cup, then it\u2019s the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hall of Fame is the pinnacle, so my issue is why is your multiple accomplishments at the grassroots, how does that allow you to just jump right to the pinnacle? That\u2019s just my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
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However, there are no such shortage of examples in the Hall of Fame without Cup merits. New England legend Mike Stefanik is in due to his excellence in Busch North and the Modified Tour. Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday is in. Richie Evans, the Modified great, is also in alongside versatile short track ace Ray Hendrick.<\/p>\n
Hamlin has a rebuttal for that too.<\/p>\n
\u201cErik Jones, unfortunately, will probably never make it into the Hall of Fame. But if he ran O\u2019Reilly or Trucks for 25 years like Matt Crafton, the guy would win 15 fucking championships. He\u2019s better, and it\u2019s not even close, so why does someone that just stays in a lower level get the right to just jump this whole stairstep of Cup?\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cBecause the Hall of Fame is the pinnacle. I don\u2019t care what you accomplished in your career; if you get into the Hall of Fame, it is the pinnacle of your career. \u2026 In the lower series, if you stay there for whatever reason, \u2018OK, well that person didn\u2019t get an opportunity.\u2019 Well, maybe Erik Jones didn\u2019t have an opportunity to stay in a top truck and win 25 championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t do the ifs and buts without going the other way. You can put the top 28 in Cup in the lower series, and they\u2019re gonna win championships, and a ton of races. So, I just don\u2019t think you can judge them the same way. I feel as though when people make arguments for guys in the lower series \u2014 more so today \u2014 the difference between Cup and Modifieds, like Ray Hendrick when he won all his Modified championships, the disparity wasn\u2019t all that different. Cup was not far and away bigger than Modifieds like it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamlin also worries that the Hall of Fame is being diluted with too many inductees.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo oversimplify this, I think it\u2019s okay if everyone they\u2019re talking about gets in, but it certainly should be a tiered system. \u2026 I just think it diminishes the greats, in my opinion,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cFor crying out loud, Bill Belichick didn\u2019t get in the NFL Hall of Fame on the first try. That was wrong, but I\u2019m in favor of maybe some years, zero get in, right? There\u2019s just not that many people. I don\u2019t know why there has to be a certain amount every time. We\u2019re going to run out of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in the next 15 years, I think someone with 10 Cup wins we\u2019re going to start talking about Hall of Fame. I\u2019m serious because you\u2019re just going to run out of people, or you\u2019re just going to lower the standards and say, \u2018Alright, let\u2019s now look at someone that\u2019s won one O\u2019Reilly championship and 15 races.’\u201d<\/p>\n
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