Denny Hamlin secured a spot in the Round of 12 of the 2025 Cup Series playoffs by capturing victory at World Wide Technology Raceway last Sunday. This is a spot that he is all too familiar with. On multiple occasions in his career, he has come frustratingly close to winning the title and then stumbled at the last hurdle. Will the ongoing title charge follow the same pattern? Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks not.
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The icon recently spoke on Dale Jr. Download about Hamlin’s adventures to win a Cup Series championship. He believes that the driver has never been in a better position to win the title than he is now.
He said, “Every year we say, ‘Man, this is his best shot.’ What Denny’s been able to do over the last handful of seasons to be one of the favorites, one of the contenders year after year after year.
“And literally every single year it seems like he’s even better. You’ve got to give the guy a ton of credit. Right now, I think we can say, maybe for the first time, that he’s the best car in the field at this point.”
As things are, Hamlin is one of the top three drivers on any given weekend. The question is if he can sustain this form, get to Phoenix, and close out the job. Junior proclaimed, “It really does feel like he’s in the best position he’s ever been in.”
The JGR veteran’s work ethic is second to none. From Dale Jr. to even Joe Gibbs himself, many have made a note of this. The biggest reason Hamlin works so hard is that he thinks he needs to put in that extra effort to be better than the younger drivers on the grid.
The constant anomaly that is Denny Hamlin
It is rather surprising that Hamlin has been able to keep himself up there competing with the rest despite his age. At 44 years old, it would have made more sense if his form had begun waning. But the exact opposite is happening.
As Junior pointed out, he has been getting better with each season, and it doesn’t look like he will stop this progress anytime soon. “He’s an anomaly,” Junior described him, and nobody could have said that better.
He added how Hamlin has been able to adapt through multiple changes in his team and still manage to score big. Multiple drivers, crew chiefs, and team personnel have come and gone through the years at Joe Gibbs Racing. But the one constant has always been the hero named Hamlin.
