The winningest driver in the NASCAR Cup Series this year, Denny Hamlin’s tale of being one of stock car racing’s greatest while not possessing the ultimate prize in the sport is long drawn out. Everyone, from the casual viewer to the hardcore No. 11 fan, knows how Hamlin has often come close to winning the elusive title, yet somehow fate has kept it away from his grasp.
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Heading into the final race of the playoff semi-finals this weekend at Martinsville, the JGR driver can visit ‘The Paperclip’ in relative ease, having already won his way into the Final 4 after his win in Las Vegas.
Speaking on whether coming close on several occasions in his long and storied career has left him somewhat sour with the whole experience, the Toyota driver has seemingly come to terms with his previous missteps, whether they were on his part or his team’s. Reflecting after his 60th win in Sin City, Hamlin didn’t seem to hold any grudges as he looked back at his near misses with the title.
“I have to live with it. I can’t change that. And, I feel like at the end of my career, it’s been far more of the ‘I’m okay with the result because I did the best I could,’ than it was early in my career, where it’s like, ‘Man, I had them, I had them right here, and I let them go,” he said, refering to one of his championship defeats at the hands of teammate Kyle Busch in the year 2019.
Going into Phoenix this year, Hamlin has an agenda. He wishes to execute perfectly on his end, controlling his performance, and if the title comes as a result of that, he will embrace it. However, he isn’t stressed about things out of his control, like an engine failure, for example.
“I just hope that I leave Phoenix knowing that I did the best that I could do. There’s nothing I could have done different. And I think, I’m still going to be very gratified with whatever result that is,” he added.
While he might like to play along with his perceived ‘villain’ image lately in the sport, it is evident Denny Hamlin is one smart mind on level shoulders, given his approach to racing and team ownership, among other things. It was rightly evident in Las Vegas as well, when he embraced the crowd’s cheers instead of playing to his usual ‘taunt the crowd’ post-win ritual.
