CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One of NASCAR’s top track owners deleted social media posts made Friday morning in a back-and-forth spat with top driver Denny Hamlin that began when Hamlin criticized the repaving of Sonoma Raceway in California.
Marcus Smith, chairman of the Speedway Motorsports conglomerate that owns 10 of the tracks on NASCAR’s Cup Series schedule, took exception to Hamlin’s post that pointed out a Thursday sports car test was canceled because of problems with the new surface on the California road course.
“When paving on a budget goes wrong,” Hamlin posted on X, formerly Twitter, right before midnight Thursday.
He then suggested that North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, which was revitalized by Speedway Motorsports and now hosts NASCAR’s All-Star race, will face similar problems during next month’s event.
Smith fired back quickly with his own response to begin an exchange that dragged into the early Friday hours.
“This is a great post from somebody who doesn’t know all the information. Ignorance on display for the world to see,” Smith wrote in a now-deleted post.
That only escalated the back-and-forth between Smith and Hamlin, winner of 53 Cup career races for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owner of 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan. Hamlin won last week’s race at his home track in Richmond, Virginia, and will try to make it two straight Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
“We’ve seen your reconfig record,” wrote Hamlin in a perceived knock at the reconfiguration of Texas Motor Speedway.
Smith then elevated the feud by taking a shot at Hamlin’s inability to win a Cup championship — the only thing missing on Hamlin’s resume.
“Yes we take risks, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t,” Smith wrote. “We’ve seen your attempt of the championship as well. When you have a chance, maybe you could give me some golf tips.”
“Here’s your tip. Let someone else run your business before you blow everything your dad gave you,” Hamlin responded.
Speedway Motorsports was founded and built by the late Bruton Smith, and Marcus Smith is his son.
Smith told Hamlin that if his father had a “Twitter/X account, I don’t think his comment would be family friendly.”
“So listen here, almost NASCAR Champion,” Smith continued, “you keep working at it and one day you’re going to get a big trophy! Thanks for the tip!”
Hamlin has won the Daytona 500 three times, but Smith suggested “negative comments would carry a lot more weight if you had a championship to back them up.”
Hamlin, under fire all week for jumping the final restart on Sunday to win Richmond, returned to social media Friday jokingly asking for some news to divert attention away from the Toyota driver. Smith then wrote that he had deleted his posts.
“Following up on my previous posts, I take a lot of pride in the dedication and hard work our teammates put forth to make NASCAR the very best it can be and I shouldn’t let social media conversations get personal, so I deleted those posts,” he wrote.
Smith called Hamlin “a passionate driver and team owner and I’m truly looking forward to seeing him drive for a championship this year. Our team is working hard to fix some pavement issues (at Sonoma) and we will get it right. Let’s keep the positive momentum going in 2024!”
Hamlin also expressed contrition.
“I’ll definitely take responsibility for my part in it. It got more personal than it should have for sure,” he wrote.
Speedway Motorsports owns Sonoma, Charlotte, North Wilkesboro, Texas, Bristol, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Dover and Nashville, and leases Circuit of the Americas for the NASCAR race held there. Speedway Motorsports has a slew of races coming up in May and June, including Sonoma. Three Cup drivers tested Sonoma last month with no pavement issues.
Although cooler heads had prevailed Friday, the bickering is indicative of the divide between NASCAR and its track operators against teams and drivers in finding a new revenue model. Teams want a larger piece of NASCAR revenue, which primarily comes from its media-rights agreements.
The tracks currently receive 65% of media-rights revenue and the teams get 25% through each race’s purse. Drivers get a percentage of the purse money paid to the teams and NASCAR keeps 10%.
Teams have argued that the tracks are receiving too much from the coffers and the distribution needs to be more evenly split. Negotiations between NASCAR and the teams are currently at a stalemate and in February the teams voted to hire a top sports labor attorney for consultation.
Hamlin is one of the most outspoken owners on the topic.
Why he could win: Olson is a late replacement for Acuna as the home team’s representative at this year’s Derby. Apart from being the Braves’ first baseman, however, Olson also was born in Atlanta and grew up a Braves fan, giving him some extra motivation. The left-handed slugger led the majors in home runs in 2023 — his 54 round-trippers that season also set a franchise record — and he remains among the best in the game when it comes to exit velo and hard-hit rate.
Why he might not: The home-field advantage can also be a detriment if a player gets too hyped up in the first round. See Julio Rodriguez in Seattle in 2023, when he had a monster first round, with 41 home runs, but then tired out in the second round.
2025 home runs: 36 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: It’s the season of Cal! The Mariners’ catcher is having one of the greatest slugging first halves in MLB history, as he’s been crushing mistakes all season . His easy raw power might be tailor-made for the Derby — he ranks in the 87th percentile in average exit velocity and delivers the ball, on average, at the optimal home run launch angle of 23 degrees. His calm demeanor might also be perfect for the contest as he won’t get too amped up.
Why he might not: He’s a catcher — and one who has carried a heavy workload, playing in all but one game this season. This contest is as much about stamina as anything, and whether Raleigh can carry his power through three rounds would be a concern. No catcher has ever won the Derby, with only Ivan Rodriguez back in 2005 even reaching the finals.
2025 home runs: 24 | Longest: 451 feet
Why he could win: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s young, he’s awesome, he might or might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This is the perfect opportunity for Wood to show his talent on the national stage, and he wouldn’t be the first young player to star in the Derby. He ranks in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 99th percentile in hard-hit rate, so he can still muscle the ball out in BP even if he slightly mishits it. His long arms might be viewed as a detriment, but remember the similarly tall Aaron Judge won in 2017.
Why he might not: His natural swing isn’t a pure uppercut — he has a pretty low average launch angle of just 6.2 degrees — so we’ll see how that plays in a rapid-fire session. In real games, his power is primarily to the opposite field, but in a Home Run Derby you can get more cheapies pulling the ball down the line.
2025 home runs: 20 | Longest: 479 feet
Why he could win: Buxton’s raw power remains as impressive as nearly any hitter in the game. He crushed a 479-foot home run earlier this season and has four others of at least 425 feet. Indeed, his “no doubter” percentage — home runs that would be out of all 30 parks based on distance — is 75%, the highest in the majors among players with more than a dozen home runs. His bat speed ranks in the 89th percentile. In other words, two tools that could translate to a BP lightning show.
Why he might not: Buxton is 31 and the Home Run Derby feels a little more like a younger man’s competition. Teoscar Hernandez did win last year at age 31, but before that, the last winner older than 29 was David Ortiz in 2010, and that was under much different rules than are used now.
2025 home runs: 16 | Longest: 463 feet
Why he could win: If you drew up a short list of players everyone wants to see in the Home Run Derby, Cruz would be near the top. He has the hardest-hit ball of the 2025 season, and the hardest ever tracked by Statcast, a 432-foot missile of a home run with an exit velocity of 122.9 mph. He also crushed a 463-foot home run in Anaheim that soared way beyond the trees in center field. With his elite bat speed — 100th percentile — Cruz has the ability to awe the crowd with a potentially all-time performance.
Why he might not: Like all first-time contestants, can he stay within himself and not get too caught up in the moment? He has a long swing, which will result in some huge blasts, but might not be the most efficient for a contest like this one, where the more swings a hitter can get in before the clock expires, the better.
2025 home runs: 23 | Longest: 425 feet
Why he could win: Although Caminero was one of the most hyped prospects entering 2024, everyone kind of forgot about him heading into this season since he didn’t immediately rip apart the majors as a rookie. In his first full season, however, he has showed off his big-time raw power — giving him a chance to become just the third player to reach 40 home runs in his age-21 season. He has perhaps the quickest bat in the majors, ranking in the 100th percentile in bat speed, and his top exit velocity ranks in the top 15. That could translate to a barrage of home runs.
Why he might not: In game action, Caminero does hit the ball on the ground quite often — in fact, he’s on pace to break Jim Rice’s record for double plays grounded into in a season. If he gets out of rhythm, that could lead to a lot of low line drives during the Derby instead of fly balls that clear the fences.
2025 home runs: 19 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: The Athletics slugger has been one of the top power hitters in the majors for three seasons now and is on his way to a third straight 30-homer season. Rooker has plus bat speed and raw power, but his biggest strength is an optimal average launch angle (19 degrees in 2024, 15 degrees this season) that translates to home runs in game action. That natural swing could be picture perfect for the Home Run Derby. He also wasn’t shy about saying he wanted to participate — and maybe that bodes well for his chances.
Why he might not: Rooker might not have quite the same raw power as some of the other competitors, as he has just one home run longer than 425 feet in 2025. But that’s a little nitpicky, as 11 of his home runs have still gone 400-plus feet. He competed in the college home run derby in Omaha while at Mississippi State in 2016 and finished fourth.
2025 home runs: 17 | Longest: 442 feet
Why he could win: Chisholm might not be the most obvious name to participate, given his career high of 24 home runs, but he has belted 17 already in 2025 in his first 61 games after missing some time with an injury. He ranks among the MLB leaders in a couple of home run-related categories, ranking in the 96th percentile in expected slugging percentage and 98th percentile in barrel rate. His raw power might not match that of the other participants, but he’s a dead-pull hitter who has increased his launch angle this season, which might translate well to the Derby, even if he won’t be the guy hitting the longest home runs.
Why he might not: Most of the guys who have won this have been big, powerful sluggers. Chisholm is listed at 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, and you have to go back to Miguel Tejada in 2004 to find the last player under 6 foot to win.
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Reds right fielder Jake Fraley was activated from the 10-day injured list on Saturday.
He had injured his right shoulder while trying to make a diving catch June 23 against the New York Yankees.
An MRI revealed a partially torn labrum that will eventually require surgery. Fraley received a cortisone shot and will try to play through it for the rest of the season.