Denny Hamlin Pushes NASCAR Toward Major Schedule Shake-Up With $7.7B Worth Caveat

What sets Denny Hamlin apart from most NASCAR stars is his outspokenness and his bold takes. His appearance on the Actions Detrimental podcast often comes with his take on the race and something he wants to address. This time, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver decided to chime in on NASCAR’s scheduling issue.

Denny Hamlin wants NASCAR to take radical steps regarding the schedule

Hamlin shared his take on the concept of off-weeks in NASCAR and what needs to change in the schedule.

Advertisement

“You got to think about from a viewership perspective, what’s better, going up against the Masters or having Easter week off? The Easter week is more for the people. The industry deserves a holiday off,” said Hamlin. “There’s thousands of employees that make up the NASCAR community and it’s just racing on Easter is just not not great. If you want to take both weeks off, that’d be great. I mean, let’s make this thing a damn 25- 28 race season like it used to be. Now we’re talking. We can have both off.”

This led to his co-host claiming that if one works in the sports industry, they have to make the sacrifice of giving up their weekend and holidays. “I hear you. But I don’t know that any other sport goes as long as we go. So there has to be breaks,” Hamlin reacted.

To Hamlin’s point, there isn’t any form of motorsports that has a schedule as long or grueling as NASCAR. In the case of F1, the calendar has 22 races, which involve breaks of multiple weeks in between. As for IndyCar, the schedule consists of 17 races. In NASCAR’s case, the schedule is 38 races, 36 of which are points races.

Advertisement

This year, teams got only one week off on Easter weekend. Other than that, teams travel across the country with the equipment and personnel to keep the schedule running.

While Denny Hamlin welcomed and pushed for an Easter weekend, he also suggested NASCAR take ‘both weeks off’, the other being the weekend during which the Masters is aired. This year, the Golf tournament concluded on the same weekend as NASCAR’s return to action at Bristol.

Hamlin noted that taking two weeks off could result in a hit to NASCAR’s viewership, which in turn could hit the revenue. This would not go down well as NASCAR signed a seven-year-long $7.7 billion media rights deal with Fox Sports, NBC, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Amazon from 2025 to 2031.

On top of that, a cut in the number of races would also lead to fewer ticket sales from tracks, some of which are also owned by NASCAR.

Advertisement

But despite these factors, there has been a push from insiders other than Denny Hamlin towards cutting the number of races.

Many big names from NASCAR have been vocal against the long schedule

One of Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing drivers, Bubba Wallace, in an earlier interview, had expressed his thoughts on the schedule. “I think we all are agreeing that it’s too long, but I don’t know if we’re ready to have the conversation of what it’s going to take to condense it the right way,” he said.

Former NASCAR driver and Denny Hamlin’s former teammate, Martin Truex Jr., was also vocal about the same. He claimed he’s voting for fewer races every day of the week. 7x Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who has also raced full-time in IndyCar, was also of the same opinion. “I’ve always firmly felt that there’s just too much racing in NASCAR,” Johnson said.

Advertisement

But then again, revenue becomes the roadblock, which Hamlin acknowledged. “I don’t ever see it going backwards just simply because of the revenue.”

Given all the revenue factors and at the same time, there being a demand to shorten the 38-race schedule, insider Jeff Gluck suggested a workaround. He wondered if NASCAR could hold Wednesday night races in the summer and have the schedule shortened in that way.

Ultimately, NASCAR would have to look into the issue as drivers have been speaking about it for a while now. It would be difficult to shorten the season, but the two parties can certainly come to an agreement that would work both ways and help the sport grow further.