Denny Hamlin let loose on his podcast Monday, the day after the Daytona 500 saying he is "losing his love" for his sport because luck has become more important than skill in NASCAR Cup racing. Hamlin pointed to the Daytona 500,

NASCAR called the caution on the final lap of Sunday's Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta, which reversed a recent trend of allowing drivers to race back to the win. Denny Hamlin called the decision the correct one.

Sunday's Daytona 500 saw Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron claim his second consecutive victory in NASCAR's most prominent race. Byron led the

XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, made history by securing the top two starting positions at COTA.

NASCAR officials responded to those calls by announcing possible modifications to the future postseason format would be on the table. In 2025, nothing has changed. The 16-car, 10-race playoffs remain the same.

NASCAR Cup Series season started off with multiple controversial last-lap caution calls/no-calls at Daytona and Atlanta. In Duel 2 at the World Center of Racing, Erik Jones crossed the finish line first but officials awarded Austin Cindric the win due to his position just in front of the No.

Christopher Bell (20) and Denny Hamlin (11) lead drivers through the front stretch during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in Daytona

Sunday night could have gone better for NASCAR. William Byron became the fifth driver in Cup Series history to earn back-to-back wins in the Daytona 500, and the first since Denny Hamlin in 2019

Denny Hamlin thought he was in the right spot on the last lap of Sunday’s Daytona 500. Cole Custer saw an opportunity. William Byron collected the checkered flag. Byron went from seventh to first on the backstretch when he slipped by crashing cars to win the Daytona 500 for the second year in a row.

Byron became the first driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500 titles since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020, etching his name in NASCAR history. After the overtime finish on a rainy

7. John H. Nemechek, 61. 8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 61. 9. Alex Bowman, 59. 10. Chase Elliott, 56. 11. Joey Logano, 55. 12. Christopher Bell, 53. 13. Denny Hamlin, 51. 14. Michael McDowell, 51. 15. Carson Hocevar, 48. 16. Chris Buescher, 47. 17. Erik Jones, 46. 18. Riley Herbst, 40. 19. Ty Dillon, 39. 20. Austin Dillon, 39. 21. Ross Chastain, 37. 22. Todd Gilliland, 36. 23. Kyle Busch, 35. 24. Jimmie Johnson, 34. 25. Daniel Suárez, 33. 26. Justin Haley, 31. 27. AJ Allmendinger, 29. 28. Zane Smith, 27. 29. Ty Gibbs, 26. 30. Ryan Preece, 24. 31. Josh Berry, 23. 32. Corey LaJoie, 21. 33. Brad Keselowski, 21. 34. Shane Van Gisbergen, 18. 35. Cole Custer, 17. 36. Noah Gragson, 13. 37. Cody Ware, 4. 38. JJ Yeley, 1. For more than a century, Times Union photographers have been documenting the Capital Region’s fascinating people, places and pivotal moments.

John Hunter Nemechek, fifth in the Daytona 500, said he was unsure why he was used an an example in Denny Hamlin's podcast critique.