Denny Hamlin: ‘I woke up pissed’ after Daytona 500

Denny Hamlin was not a happy man when talking about how this year’s Daytona 500 ended. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin expressed how he felt after taking some time to process getting wrecked during the final lap of “The Great American Race.”

“This is one of these mornings where I woke up full Clint Eastwood get off my lawn,” Hamlin said. “I’m just so f***ing angry. I mean I woke up pissed, and it’s about everything. Now I know why drivers retire. I have that feeling like I’m tired of this s***. There’s just a big picture to this.”

Hamlin was angry because he was wrecked in the final lap of the Daytona 500. He was in second place before the accident and was battling Austin Cindric for the lead. The wreck took both drivers out, and William Byron won the Daytona 500.

After the race, Hamlin told reporters that Cole Custer was responsible for the wreck. However, the 44-year-old driver said he was not too angry when the accident happened.

Denny Hamlin spoke to Cole Custer after the Daytona 500 wreck

“I wasn’t mad at in the moment,” Hamlin said. “If I was really mad in the moment when I talked to Cole on pit road, I would have gave it to him. But I asked the question saying, ‘Hey, why’d you turn left down the straightaway?’ He said what he said in his interviews, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen it.’ …I think today is going to be seen as sour grapes, but yeah it is.”

Denny Hamlin was looking to win the Daytona 500 for the fourth time in his career. Had Hamlin won on Sunday, he would have been one of three drivers to win the race at least four times. The two drivers who have reached that mark are Cale Yarborough (four times) and Richard Petty (seven times).

Hamlin was looking to start the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season off strong after missing out on competing in the Championship Four last year. During the 2024 season, Hamlin won three races and reached the Cup Series playoffs Round of 8. He finished eighth in the points standings and finished in the top 10 in the last six seasons.

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