NASCAR's Denny Hamlin on Ohio State fandom: 'I fully jumped on that bandwagon'

NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin is ready to cheer on the Ohio State Buckeyes to a national championship this fall. On3 recently spoke to Hamlin about being all in with Ohio State after winning the title in 2024.

“I fully jumped on that bandwagon. My friends won’t let me off of it,” Denny Hamlin told On3. “I’ve got a couple of friends that are from the Ohio area, which works out nicely, being that I get to go to Cleveland now and then to go see the Progressive folks. So yeah, I want to go to some games.”

Hamlin added, “I didn’t actually get to go to one of the home games at The Shoe this past year just because of the scheduling and how it worked out. But yeah, listen, it’s fun to jump on a bandwagon team that wins. So they’ve got another really strong roster. As long as they got Jeremiah Smith, I like their chances.”

Hamlin is not wrong about jumping on a team like Ohio State. The 2026 season should be a strong one for the Buckeyes, as they are a top-five team because of players like Smith.

Denny Hamlin loves the atmosphere at Ohio State

After the Buckeyes won the title in 2024, Hamlin spoke on his podcast about becoming a fan during the championship run. “I’ll be honest with you when you jump on the bandwagon with the best team, it surely makes it easy and fun,” he said at the time. “Just to me, the atmosphere was the biggest thing I noticed being so different.”

Ohio State looked poised to win it all last year. After going undefeated in the regular season, the Buckeyes lost to eventual national champion Indiana in the Big Ten title game. In the College Football Playoff, Ohio State lost to the national title runner-up, Miami.

As Hamlin gets ready to support Ohio State, he is looking to win a championship of his own. He is currently in second place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings and has recorded one win, eight top-10 finishes, and six top-five finishes through 13 races.