Why Pitbull Is Taking a Different Approach to NASCAR Team Ownership Than Denny Hamlin

Just recently, Denny Hamlin declared that 23XI Racing is no longer an underdog team. In his podcast, Hamlin said, “Patting ourselves on the back for running in the top-10? I don’t mean to be the tough guy but that’s very modest goals for our team.” However, during the pre-race interview before this year’s Daytona 500, Trackhouse Racing’s co-owner Pitbull seemed to differ in the way he sees his team.

For the Grammy-winning rap artist, being underdogs is a blessing for the Chevy team. “For Trackhouse to be underdogs, that was a beautiful thing in the beginning but we’ll forever be underdogs,” said the ‘Timber’ star.

“That’s why we’ll fight the way that we fight, and we’ll continue to build the way that we build.”

According to Justin Marks’ partner, words like ‘can’t’, ‘don’t’, and ‘impossible’ only translate to ‘can’, ‘do’, and ‘possible’. “When you bring that mentality to a whole sport who is hungry to feed the world and teach different cultures and different communities that hey, there’s opportunities, then you’re in the ultimate world of do good and be well,” he added with confidence.

Pitbull might not see Trackhouse Racing the way Hamlin sees his team. However, Hamlin did receive the green flag of ‘The Rock’. And that’s because of the former’s villainous demeanor.

‘The Rock’ feels like Denny Hamlin is doing the greatest thing in the world

Denny Hamlin has been arguably the most booed driver lately. But he doesn’t care about it at all. And for the global superstar Dwayne Johnson, who has been in the good and the bad books of the WWE fans, that is the greatest thing in the world. Johnson feels like Hamlin should make it a part of his persona.

“Everybody wants to be a good guy or good girl. Everyone wants to be loved and cheered and considered the hero, which is great and it’s natural; it’s just human psychology and desire,” said the Daytona 500 Grand Marshal.

However, seldom does an athlete come across the opportunity to be a great bad guy, he explained. Might seem like a bit of an oxymoron. However, it looks like Hamlin is doing quite well being the “great bad guy”. It’s surely a good thing that The Rock will be the Grand Marshal for Monday’s race at the Daytona International Speedway and will watch Denny Hamlin race it out and perhaps be the bad guy on the 2.5-mile, trioval race track in hopes of winning his fourth Daytona 500.

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• Denny Hamlin
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
• Pitbull