Denny Hamlin is neither a villain or a hero in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Unless, of course, you are a fan of Chase Elliott. After the two had a bit of an "encounter" last season at Martinsville Speedway the legions of Elliott fans were soon blowing up Hamlin’s social media channels.

This season, Hamlin has been relatively quiet. He hasn’t quite had the speed to keep up with the Stewart-Haas Fords or even his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. He does have six top-five finishes in 15 races and is currently is eighth in the series standings but has yet to win.

That means that his social media channels, most notably Twitter, have also been relatively quiet.

And that’s the way Hamlin wants to keep it; especially when it comes to the haters.

“I’ve been very good this year about not replying to mean people, and you all should do the same,” Hamlin said during a press conference at Sonoma Raceway Friday. “When you see negative -- I am making a ploy right now to every driver, every team owner, every NASCAR executive and every media member -- stop replying to people that make nonsense comments. They have 16 followers, don’t give them your 100,000. Do not give them your 100,000 as their stage. No one will ever see their comment; just brush it by. Talk about the positives, and I’m not a positive guy.”

So not interacting with those mean people is how Hamlin deals with it.

“You just scroll by it,” he said. “Forget it. That person doesn’t exist. They’re an admirer that has lost their way.”

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