Denny Hamlin says he relishes being seen as a villain in NASCAR after receiving boos from tꦰhe crowd in Michigan.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored his third victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series at the Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, with ♒the result catapulting him to third in the championship.

After taking to the victory lane, a jubilant turned to the crowd to say “Daddy, I’m sorry, but I beat your favourite driveꦜr folks”, prompting🦋 an angry response from the stands.

Hamlin has previously made the same comment after winning at Bristol in 2023 and again after his triumph in the Clash last year, but had promised his f𒁏ather not to repeat it.

The 44-year-old is also one of🌟 the most ‘hated’ drivers on the grid, despite earning a Cup Serಞies drive after proving his worth in junior ranks.

Speaking afterwards in the post-race press conference, Hamlin said he is not 🥀bothered by the public perception about him, adding that he feels ‘grati💙fied’ to prove his haters wrong.

“It’s a lot of fun for me. I love making people feel a certain way,” he said. “Positiv💎e or negative, I do not care.

“All the fans that I’ve been face to face with have been very respectful. What they say outside on the other side of the fence, free rein. Do whatever you want to do, say whatever you want to say. They’ve been very respectful in the small arena.
 
“I do have a lot of fun with it. I do thrive on it just simply because you feel like you’ve got 60,000 people that are rooting against you. When you have that, it just feels really, really good and gratifying to prove them wrong.
 
“I love that feeling. It makes these wins more gratꦚifying to me.”