
Day in the Life: NASCAR Driver Denny Hamlin Takes Us Through His Off-The-Track Routine
Hamlin has 56 NASCAR Cup Series victories under his belt and takes his other endeavors just as seriously as racing, while also making some time to decompress between high-stakes contests. On a Monday morning, post-race, he headed to record his Actions Detrimental podcast on set. The series releases new episodes every Sunday and is a one-stop destination for all things NASCAR, which includes race recaps and exclusive insider perspectives for fans.
After wrapping up on set, Hamlin showed off his Daytona 500-winning cars. He's won the prestigious race three times and kept the cars in the same condition since the celebrations — some even had confetti still scattered across the windshield. After a view of his garage, he headed to his closet, where he presented his expansive sneaker collection, which includes numerous past Jordan releases. It became a full-circle moment for Hamlin when he became co-owner of a NASCAR team alongside Michael Jordan.
The two partnered up to start23XI Racingin 2020, and Hamlin brought Hypebeast along to check out Airspeed, the team's headquarters. What began over a shared love of both basketball and racing kicked off in 2021 with Bubba Wallace driving the No. 23 Toyota in the NASCAR Cup Series. 23XI Racing HQ boasts massive workout rooms, a Jordan 11 collection on the wall and other state-of-the-art features. Hamlin and Jordan have some big plans to continue innovating on and off the track in the future.
Our day with Hamlin ended at the 23XI headquarters, but his story continues on the track — catch him at his next race.
You can tune in and watch Denny compete at the upcoming Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at the Daytona International Speedway. With 31 degrees of banking in the turns and 18 degrees in the tri-oval, the track always brings the excitement. The action kicks off on Saturday, August 24 at 730pm EST on NBC with streaming on Peacock.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

22 minutes ago
Ron Howard on directing star-studded cast in new survival thriller
Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard discusses working on 'Eden,' which is based on a true story about a group of people who abandon modern civilization and settle in the Galapagos Islands.


Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
NASCAR's Viewership Reveals Worrying Trend For American Stock Car Racing
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. NASCAR viewership numbers from last weekend's race at Richmond Raceway reveal a worrying trend, as it was the fourth-lowest since 2020. The sport averaged 1.39 million viewers for the Cup Series race on Saturday night, a departure from the traditional Sunday race format that may have contributed to the drop in viewers. A report states that compared to the race at Richmond last year, which attracted 2.22 million viewers, the viewership has dropped by 38%. Richmond marked the year's second-to-last race, which experienced a 60% drop from last year's penultimate round at Daytona International Speedway. This, despite NASCAR not clashing with any other form of motorsport on the same weekend. The 2025 NASCAR regular season averages 2.64 million viewers, the lowest regular season average ever recorded. NASCAR's popularity peaked in the early 2000s, but fell significantly after the 2008 economic crisis. NASCAR veteran Kyle Busch has acknowledged a decrease in the sport's popularity by pointing to the drop in audience numbers at race venues. Newsweek Sports reported his comments: "I think it's a culture problem, and I say that in regard to the world culture. In the '80s and '90s, you had a bunch of Hot Rod guys who were cool with souping up their 1970s, 1980s street rods. A lot of those guys are aged out. A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 16, 2025 in Richmond, Virginia. A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 16, 2025 in Richmond, Virginia."I just think the problem we're running into is there's not a lot of race fans anymore. People would always bring their kids to the track, but now there are just so many other things people can do otherwise. Going to the lake, taking your kids to a bounce house. "No offense, but we just stood outside, right? It's 90-something degrees outside. Who wants to sit in metal bleachers under the sun for three hours? If you're out there, God bless you. More power to you. I appreciate that. We need to do more for those people who are here and who give us their time and their money. But you're not going to find me out there." NASCAR partnered with Netflix for two seasons of the NASCAR: Full Speed docuseries in an attempt to increase fan following, with Season 2 having been released in May 2025. Rumors also suggest that a Days of Thunder sequel is in the pipeline, starring Tom Cruise, which could help boost NASCAR's popularity. However, the extent of its effects on the sport's viewership is difficult to predict. Related: Kyle Larson Blames Talladega Nights For Making NASCAR a 'Joke'


Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Denny Hamlin Drops Surprising Verdict on Richmond NASCAR Cup Series Race
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin revealed that Richmond Raceway produced some great racing last weekend on a short track that is otherwise difficult to pass on. He also praised the Goodyear tires that showed signs of wear and contributed to the exciting racing spectacle. Hamlin stressed that the quality of racing at Richmond hadn't been witnessed for many years, and thus, it was expected to be a "boring" race. However, the race impressed him greatly, leading him to give due credit to the tires for making such a big difference. Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said: "It was good to see a great short-track race. Some great tire fall-off. Thank you Goodyear, for bringing a tire that had over two to two-and-a-half seconds of fall-off. Fantastic. Richmond was kind of one of the very first short-tracks that was getting the, 'Oh man, this is kind of boring' type-feel, right? It's good to see that the tires do matter. "I think the fans on TV and in the stands, they got to see drivers make moves and pass. ... I thought it was a good race. I can speak about this, because I participate in the race. I drive the cars. I know how difficult it is to pass during this race versus the previous, versus the previous, versus 10 years ago, versus 20 years ago. I know because I did it." Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Bob's Discount Furniture Toyota, walks the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on August 02, 2025 in Newton,... Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Bob's Discount Furniture Toyota, walks the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on August 02, 2025 in Newton, Iowa. MoreHamlin then compared the race to last year's round, highlighting the vast difference between the two events, all because of the tires. He added: "This was more like — I don't wanna overstep here, but a Generation Five Cup car. After about 15, 20 laps, you could make passes on people. The speed started to separate enough to create the passes. "When they had the harder tire last year, you had to sit behind somebody for 30 to 40 laps, and then hell, you're going to be pitting in 15 laps. So, the window of passes was really, really small last year. If you look at the lines, the ranks and positions, everyone just is stagnant." He added: "Then right before the pit, there's some changing of positions, and then people start pitting. This one was more stagnant at the beginning to be expected. Everyone had a lot of grip, because the tires had a lot of grip. Then, all of a sudden, people start passing. It's like, that's what we wanted to see." The 44-year-old driver revealed that this tire could be made NASCAR's official short-track tire, which would be a "good thing" for the sport. He said: "That puts it back into the driver's hands, and hopefully this is something that — this will be our Loudon tire, as well. Something to look forward to there. It seems like they're trying to make this our standard short-track tire. "I believe it's the same as Martinsville. Now Richmond, Loudon. I'm sure there's another in there. But we've softened up the tires. It's really a good thing."