I’m not sure I totally believe Denny Hamlin when he talks about his wonderful NASCAR career that doesn’t include a championship. Listen to his words earlier this year after beating Kyle Larson in a tense and entertaining 400-miler at Dover (Del.) Speedway.
“Listen… I know I’m a championship-caliber driver,” he said. “I’ll say it: There have been worse drivers than me who a championship.” (Wisely, he didn’t name names). “I feel that way because of how things have worked out. It’s different now. Find me one driver (who says) championships are the same now as they were 10 years ago.
“I think it’s fun to be able to (win close races), especially when you do it against someone you consider a big challenger. Kyle Larson is a champion, not a challenger; I’m probably the challenger. I think it certainly helps your ego a little bit. Like I need that.”
Then he said what seems odd to me: “I care about wins and winning every week because in the end I absolutely would take 60-some wins and no championship over 20 wins and one championship.
“ It’s not even close.”
Wow! Really? Could he be serious?
Some background: Hamlin has been with Joe Gibbs Racing since his limited-schedule debut in 2005. He’s been top-10 in points 15 times in his 18 full seasons. (He missed four races in 2013 due to injuries).
Among those 15 top-10s are eight among the top-5: second in 2010, third in 2006, 2014, and 2021, fourth in 2019 and 2020, and fifth in 2022 and last year. His average points finish over 18 full seasons is a staggering 5.0.
Nobody in the modern era not named Johnson or Gordon has ever been that consistent. It seems that being a championship contender is part of Hamlin’s racing DNA.
Including this season, he’s qualified for all 11 of the 16-driver, four-round, championship-deciding Playoff series. He reached the Championship-4 in 2014 and advanced to at least Round 3 in each of the next four seasons.
He was among the final four at Homestead and Phoenix from 2019-2021, an unprecedented streak only Johnson has topped.
That’s why his recent escape from a humiliating Round 1 elimination loss at Bristol last weekend was no real surprise. His workmanlike fourth-place took him from six points below the Round 1 cutline to 10 above. (Former champions Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski were eliminated, along with Ty Gibbs and Harrison Burton). The Playoffs continue Sunday at Kansas City, then visit Talladega and the Charlotte Roval. Unless something unusual happens Hamlin will likely get through to Round 3 at Las Vegas, Homestead, and Martinsville.
After that, at Phoenix … who knows? He’s been on the cusp of a championship four times without hoisting the Bill France Trophy. It would be six Championship-4 appearances but for two shocking results, both at Martinsville:
• Hamlin was about to finish fourth in 2022, a run that would have made him a championship finalist. Imagine his surprise when Ross Chastain passed him for fourth within 200 yards of the flag. That last-lap, last-turn, wall-hugging pass remains one of NASCAR’s most iconic moments
• Last year Hamlin went into the next-to-last race in a 37-point hole after crashing out at Homestead the previous weekend. He finished third at Martinsville, but still ended up eight points from advancing to the Championship-4. If Chastain’s pass had left him dumbfounded in 2022, he was somewhat stoic after missing last year’s finals by eight points.
“He (race winner and soon-to-be champion Ryan Blaney) definitely had the best car and we were next,” Hamlin said after the Martinsville disappointment. “And I wouldn’t have done anything different; there’s nothing I could have done through these Playoffs to be any different. On a day when we had to have a phenomenal day, we did … but it just wasn’t quite good enough because we were in such a hole from last week.”
Hamlin’s 54 victories make him NASCAR’s second-winningest active Cup driver behind two-time champion Kyle Busch’s 63. With three Daytona 500 trophies and the Hall of Fame awaiting, the argument has been made that he’s Cup’s all-time best driver without a championship. (Most successful? No question. Best? Probably, but Mark Martin and Junior Johnson are in that discussion).
In a recent podcast Hamlin spoke of his championship frustrations. “I’ve accomplished way more than I ever thought I would,” he said. “To me, getting into that top-10 list of all-time winners is what matters most because those drivers are the most elite. Ultimately, that’s the list I really, really care most about. (He’s 12th-ranked, one victory behind former champion Rusty Wallace’s 55 and six behind former champion Kevin Harvick’s 60. Former champions Keselowski (36) and Joey Logano (34) are no threats to pass him in career victories.
“To add a championship to that top-10 list would be a big deal, but why be upset if I fail at one given moment? I want it more for my dad and my family and my friends than I do for myself. But if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be fine regardless of the outcome. I’ll be okay.”
Which leads us back to that original statement: “I care about wins and winning every week because in the end I absolutely would take 60-some wins and no championship over 20 wins and one championship. It’s not even close.”
Is he being totally honest or is he simply whistling past the graveyard? We’ll find out soon enough.
Rocky Mount native Al “Buddy” Pearce has spent 55 years covering motorsports, from go-karts to Formula One and everything in between. He worked briefly as a young Evening Telegram intern before becoming a full-time racing writer in 1969. He’s the stock car editor forwww.autoweek.com and is the author of 50 First Victories, his 13th NASCAR book. He’ll be here on Saturdays with insight, history, opinions, news, questions, and critiques about motorsports. He’s in Newport News, Virginia, at omanoran123@gmail.com.
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