Denny Hamlin thinks NASCAR, in this one instance, made a step “too far in one direction.”
NASCAR released its 2023 Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series schedules on Wednesday afternoon. Among the most notable highlights of the schedule-drop was that the Xfinity Series would feature eight road-course races — and to Hamlin, the veteran driver of the No. 11 car for Joe Gibbs Racing and a part-owner of 23XI Racing, that’s too much.
“I think that NASCAR for many years, and what it was built on, was oval-track racing, short-track racing,” he told reporters over a Zoom video media availability on Thursday. “While I love to see where we’re going with our schedule on the Cup side, going back to the old historic tracks, especially with the All-Star race, I definitely — and this is just my opinion — think we have to start tapering off some of these road courses that we’re running.”
The driver added: “Eight in the Xfinity Series? I mean, that’s a lot.”
Hamlin, who has amassed 48 wins since his first full season in 2006, has been lauded for speaking with authority on issues that NASCAR should address — from safety of the Next Gen car, to the industry’s economic model and more.
One opinion that he readily rehashes is that road-course racing shouldn’t supplant oval racing. He did so after the Cup race in Indianapolis this year — tweeting “#bringbacktheoval” after a rambunctious, wreck-riddled race at the Brickyard in July — and he did so again on Thursday.
The Xfinity Series is a proving ground for future NASCAR Cup drivers and has helped produce some of NASCAR’s biggest stars.
“Are they getting a bunch of really good knowledge for the Cup Series? I’m not really sure,” Hamlin said. “The (Xfinity cars) don’t shift the same. They don’t brake the same. Again, the techniques which you use to be fast on road courses are the same, no matter what the car, but I’m really not sure that that’s where we should be headed.”
Hamlin then said that the best racing in the sport is “on the ovals.”
“I hate to say it, but that’s just kind of how it’s been: The good racing is on the ovals, and that’s what we are,” he said. “We are not IMSA. Not many people tune in to watch IMSA races. So we have to be good at what we’re good at. And we’re good at short-track, big-track, contact-able racing.
“That’s who we are, and we don’t need to venture too far from what we are and what our roots are.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule for 2023
Saturday, Feb. 18 | Daytona |
Saturday, Feb. 25 | Auto Club |
Saturday, March 4 | Las Vegas |
Saturday, March 11 | Phoenix |
Saturday, March 18 | Atlanta |
Saturday, March 25 | COTA |
Saturday, April 1 | Richmond |
Saturday, April 15 | Martinsville |
Saturday, April 22 | Talladega |
Saturday, April 29 | Dover |
Saturday, May 13 | Darlington |
Saturday, May 27 | Charlotte |
Saturday, June 3 | Portland |
Saturday, June 10 | Sonoma |
Saturday, June 24 | Nashville Superspeedway |
Saturday, July 1 | Chicago Street Race |
Saturday, July 8 | Atlanta |
Saturday, July 15 | New Hampshire |
Saturday, July 22 | Pocono |
Saturday, July 29 | Road America |
Saturday, Aug. 5 | Michigan |
Saturday, Aug. 12 | Indianapolis Road Course |
Saturday, Aug. 19 | Watkins Glen |
Friday, Aug. 25 | Daytona |
Saturday, Sept. 2 | Darlington |
Saturday, Sept. 9 | Kansas |
Friday, Sept. 15 | Bristol |
Saturday, Sept. 23 | Texas |
Saturday, Oct. 7 | Charlotte Roval |
Saturday, Oct. 14 | Las Vegas |
Saturday, Oct. 21 | Homestead-Miami |
Saturday, Oct. 28 | Martinsville |
Saturday, Nov. 4 | Phoenix (Championship) |
This story was originally published September 15, 2022 2:19 PM.
