You can criticize Denny Hamlin for the way he drives. You can criticize Denny Hamlin for what he says. But you can’t criticize Denny Hamlin for his work ethic.
And more and more, the 44-year-old Hamlin has depended on that to keep him at the top of his game, which is better than most and as good as any despite his age.
Hamlin will never be NASCAR’s Most Popular Diver. He seems to find new ways to irritate fans and competitors almost every week and he’s pretty good at it because he’s been doing it for a long time, almost as long as he’s been racing.
And he did it again Sunday after winning the Enjoy Illinois 300 at St. Louis’ World Wide Technology Raceway, which punched his ticket to the second round of the NASCAR playoffs.
Getting out of his car to a mixed reception from those in attendance, Hamlin went into attack mode almost immediately. “Y’all can boo,” he said to the crowd and those watching on USA TV. “You can either get on the bandwagon or get run over by it.”
How this got so intense isn’t exactly certain, but it probably began a few years ago when he had a problem with Chase Elliott, one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers.
And since then, Hamlin has kept it alive by being involved in disputes with anybody he perceives as getting in his way, on the track or in the stands. After one race this year, he waved a flag that said “11 against the world.” After another race, one of his first comments was “I beat your favorite driver.” And so it goes.
All of this is distracting from the fact that Hamlin is one of the best ever to sit behind the wheel; his body of work proves that. And while Joe Gibbs teammate Chase Briscoe may have shot to the top during the last few months, it remains to be seen whether or not he has Hamlin’s staying power.
Going into this week’s race at Bristol, Hamlin has now won 59 races, one shy of Kevin Harvick, who has 60 and ranks 10th all-time. Right ahead of Harvick is former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, who has 63 and, stuck in limbo at Richard Childress Racing, is finding it hard to add to that total.
Sixty-three wins is well within Hamlin’s reach considering how sharp he is despite his age, but getting to the next man up, Dale Earnhardt, is going to be tough. Earnhardt has 76 and even Hamlin can’t beat Father Time forever.
He’ll probably try though.
One of the most studious and astute drivers in the sport, Hamlin said there was a time when, if you were driving for an elite team, your equipment gave you an edge. That’s gone now, he says, so the only way to gain an advantage is to be better prepared than the competition, especially as you get older.
“With everything so similar, how else am I supposed to separate myself from everyone else?” Hamlin asked after Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 according to NASCAR’s website.
“I’ve got some talent, but I feel the working part of it is how I separate myself,” Hamlin continued. “You’ve got to know what to look for, you’ve got to identify it and then you have to go to work to fix it.
“That’s what I feel like I’m good at; identifying the problem first – all my problems essentially. My job is to find out all my flaws,” Hamlin said. “Then it’s my job to fix them on the racetrack.”
If Hamlin has a “flaw” in his resume, it’s the fact that in his 20 year Cup career he’s never won a championship, although he’s been in the playoffs every single season except one, 2013, when he was injured, and he’s made the final four four tines, 2014, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“My results every year in the playoffs are better than they are in the regular season,” Hamlin commented. “My average finish, all of that stuff, it’s always better in the playoffs.
“It’s just that we haven’t won that stupid, freaking last race of the season that crowns the champion,” Hamlin remarked. And he can live with that if he has to. For Hamlin, winning championships isn’t the ultimate goal. To him, it’s winning races that counts.
“There’s certain races I do have countdowns for,” he said. “The only one I thought about this year was the Daytona 500, thinking I’m probably only going to do this twice more. And I haven’t won the freaking Brickyard (400), and I’m probably only going to have two more shots at that and that’s it,” Hamlin declared.
Maybe, maybe not. Hamlin has signed a contract extension with JGR that will carry him through the 2026 and 2027 seasons. After that, well…Hamlin has a lot of pride. He’ll never race just to keep racing. But he will race as long as he thinks he can win.
He knows he can win now, and can anyone say he won’t be able to win then?
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Bristol: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Kyle Larson, 3-Chase Briscoe. Winner of first race at Bristol: Larson. Top five in first race: 1-Larson, 2-Hamlin, 3-Ty Gibbs, 4-Briscoe, 5-Ryan Blaney.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport St. Louis picks: 1-Hamlin, 2-Briscoe, 3-Larson. St. Louis winner: Hamlin. OGS record after 23 races: 11-11; no pick in Pocono race.
OGS competition index top 10: 1-Hamlin 536 points, 2-Briscoe 443, 3-Larson 375, 4-William Byron 326, Christopher Bell 326, 6-Blaney 314, 7-Shane van Gisbergen 295, 8-Chase Elliott 179, 9-Bubba Wallace 173, 10-Alex Bowman 158.
OGS top 10 on short tracks (tracks most similar to Bristol): 1-Hamlin 211, 2-Larson 136, 3-Briscoe 112, 4-Bell 110, 5-Byron 80, 6-Bowman 74, 7-Blaney 72, 8-Austin Dillon 63, 9-Elliott 50, 10-Wallace 41.
