Whether you love him or hate him, Denny Hamlin certainly knows how to keep the race fans entertained. While most of the drivers have either signed up for dirt racing or late models, Hamlin is keeping himself busy by being a part of the popular culture. You might have seen your Instagram feed flooded with 2024 Spotify Wrapped stories, and it looks like the JGR driver is having a lot of fun with this.
Rather than sharing the stock images and data from the app, Denny Hamlin opted to do things a little differently. Not only that, this ingenious yet creative idea also promoted his on-track rival Chase Elliott’s response on social media.
Denny Hamlin knows how to catch fan’s attention
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If you share the highlights from the Spotify app to your Instagram, you will be able to see your Top Songs and artists you’ve listened to the most throughout the year. Well, Hamlin also shared something similar with his own touch of sarcasm and a dig at rival fans. He even made fun of his shortcomings for the 2024 Cup Series season. The first one – My Top Song Category—and his pick was “Boo,” referring to the jeers by the fans from his race win or driver’s entry during the races.
He used this template again and aimed a subtle jab at Hendrick Motorsports fans. My Top Song—“ZeRO “ZeRO cHaMPionSHiPs” the artist credit was here given to HMS fans. The third and final one was perhaps a pat on his back as he celebrated his podcast, Actions Detrimental. He shared these visuals with the caption, “I heard it all #SpotifyWrapped🎵.”
Well, surprisingly, Chase Elliott also sprung into action and made a rare appearance on X thanks to Hamlin’s ingenious post about Spotify Wrapped. Making a cheeky comment and batting out for all the HMS fans, Elliott replied, “Hats for sale btw” and shared a link for his online store. The HMS star certainly knows how to market his brand, and he knew for a fact that Hamlin’s social media post would gain a lot of traction and eyeballs. So you see his response was a well-thought-out marketing masterstroke.
Interestingly, this move by Denny Hamlin is indeed bold given his situation and legal troubles in going against NASCAR. Speaking of the lawsuit, the sanctioning body has responded to 23XI Racing’s refiling of the injunction plea. And going by their statement, things are not looking good for Hamlin and his race team.
NASCAR is not willing to hand over the SHR charters to the teams
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As expected, NASCAR opted to dismiss the lawsuit from 23XI Racing and FRM after the two teams refiled the preliminary injunction request. There was a lot to look at from the responses filled by NASCAR, but one thing that stood out was they have clearly stated that they won’t allow the transfer of SHR charters.
In the filings, NASCAR stated that 23XI Racing and Front Row, “purchased these charters fully aware that they contained a release provision, which needed to be accepted for any requested transfer to be considered.” NASCAR says they cannot approve the transfer of these charters because the two teams declined to sign the charter deal in the first place and instead filed an antitrust case against them. An injunction is the only last resort for the teams to reclaim their chartered team status, or they will have to enter the 2025 season as open teams.
Knowing well aware of the risks of losing their charters, 23XI still went ahead and announced the signing of Riley Herbst. Meanwhile, Zane Smith is reported to take command of FRM’s third entry for next season. NASCAR had initially stated that they were going to prepare for the 2025 season with 32 charters, but the two SHR charters are now in a state of limbo; they will have to cut that number down to 30. Meanwhile, the teams will be hoping that they are granted an injunction to continue racing next year as chartered organizations.
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Time is of the essence for 23XI Racing and FRM, and so far there’s no confirmation on when the next court hearing for the injunction motion will take place.