Speedway Motorsports Boss Blasts Denny Hamlin's Criticism: 'Ignorance on Display'

Although no one was on a race track, there was a big wreck in the NASCAR world Thursday night.

Driver Denny Hamlin and Marcus Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, engaged in a very ugly spat on X (formerly known as Twitter) after Hamlin posted a comment about what he considers poor management of tracks in the SM portfolio.

The public back-and-forth, a rarity among high-level NASCAR individuals, began when Hamlin reposted a tweet about portions of the recently repaved Sonoma Raceway road course breaking up. “When paving on a budget goes wrong,” Hamlin wrote. “NWB (North Wilkesboro Speedway) will be next.”

Sonoma and North Wilkesboro are Speedway Motorsports tracks.

Smith responded: “This is a great post from somebody who doesn’t know all the information. Ignorance on display for the world to see!”

The back-and-forth got worse from there. Hamlin urged Smith to “let someone else run your business before you blow everything your dad gave you.”

Smith’s father, Burton, built Charlotte Motor Speedway and the SM empire and is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Smith responded, taking a shot at the veteran Hamlin’s failure, despite his many race wins, to score a Cup Series championship: “So listen here, almost NASCAR Champion, you keep working at it and one day you’re gonna get a big trophy!”

Hamlin has been an occasional critic of repaves of SM tracks.

Smith took down his post this morning.