{"id":44147,"date":"2025-07-29T03:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T03:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/44147\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T03:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T03:22:10","slug":"denny-hamlin-tees-off-on-nascar-show-in-response-to-larry-mcreynolds-playoff-comment-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/44147\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin tees off on NASCAR show in response to Larry McReynolds playoff comment controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denny Hamlin believes Larry McReynolds was \u201cprobably referencing me\u201d after the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio host called out a member of the NASCAR<\/a> playoff committee for advocating for the return of the full-season points format<\/a>. On last Tuesday\u2019s \u201cOn Track,\u201d Danielle Trotta, McReynolds\u2019 co-host, revealed there was one driver on the committee passionately calling for the end of the winner-takes-all championship race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bet it\u2019s a driver that has not won a championship,\u201d McReynolds said. \u201cCorrect,\u201d Trotta responded. Though fans initially took it as a shot at NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, a staunch defender of the old system, Hamlin said on Monday\u2019s \u201cActions Detrimental<\/a>\u201d podcast that he viewed it differently. He called out McReynolds and Trotta for \u201ccontinually questioning the people that have the credentials to give an opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, in my opinion, Danielle was definitely talking about Mark. She even referenced Mark in a tweet afterwards. Larry was probably referencing me \u2014 I don\u2019t think they were on the same page. I guess Larry said, \u2018If you would listen closely, it\u2019s a driver that\u2019s active and on the council.\u2019 He never said that. We listened closely, and Larry never said that \u2014 he was backtracking. \u2026 I have not [advocated for a full-season points format]. Here\u2019s my problem mainly with the characters not just on this show \u2014 there\u2019s others, but mainly this one \u2014 is that I\u2019ve never seen another sport that continues to question what their star athletes say than this one here. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike, if a NFL<\/a> player says, \u2018The NFL really needs to look into these low blow hits,\u2019 I can\u2019t contemplate in my head another NFL show that says, \u2018Who is that guy to say that? He doesn\u2019t have the credentials to say that. He doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about.\u2019 That\u2019s what the people on that channel typically do time and time out. \u2026 They continually question the people that have the credentials to give an opinion. That\u2019s my problem with that channel. It\u2019s not just this show \u2014 it\u2019s primarily this show but it is others \u2014 that continually bash down the people that give them the content and the soundbites. It\u2019s supposed to stir discussion, not an attack on them personally. Tell me why the idea is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin holds nothing back in fiery response to Larry McReynolds<\/p>\n

Under the playoff format, adopted in 2004 and tweaked along the way, winning is everything. NASCAR switched to an elimination-style format in 2014, where 16 drivers make up the field. Winning at least one regular season race grants entry into the postseason. The playoffs take part across 10 races with four drivers eliminated after every three races until four remain. The season finale is a winner-takes-all championship race.<\/p>\n

Hamlin has been vocal in calling for a change to the system. He confirmed he is on the playoff committee, which NASCAR assembled to determine if the playoff format should look different next season.\u00a0Hamlin, notably, has never won a Cup Series championship. Neither has McReynolds, a Cup level crew chief for 15 years. Hamlin questioned if his opinion doesn\u2019t matter, why should McReynolds? <\/p>\n

\u201cAm I missing something? Does Larry have one [a championship]? So, should we not listen? It doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d Denny Hamlin said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a way for them to stick their nose in the air and act smarter than they actually are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin believes Larry McReynolds was \u201cprobably referencing me\u201d after the SiriusXM NASCAR Radio host called out a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-44147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}