Ever since Denny Hamlin won the Cup Series race at the Phoenix Raceway and pushed up his total number of wins to 61, there has been a flurry of discussions about where his tally will stand when he retires. But going by the way the man has been talking about his stats lately, it doesn’t seem like leaving the sport is something he has in mind.
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In a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin’s win-count discussions took an engaging twist, and it all began with a simple question: How many wins would Hamlin now have if the ones he won by luck were taken out and the ones he deserved to win were added?
The veteran driver answered with peak enthusiasm that he would definitely have more wins than he does now. He said, “This is not an exaggeration. I’d have 75. I far lost more than I lucked into.”
In 2011, Hamlin won a race at Michigan by leading only the final eight laps. The race was a test of fuel mileage, and he wasn’t close to winning it. A late-race caution allowed him to make a pit stop, and he ended up in Victory Lane by holding off Matt Kenseth. This is but one of the many races he bagged with a bit of aid from Lady Luck.
But, as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver pointed out, there were also plenty of instances where he let victory slip through his fingers. The 2025 season finale stands as the most recent reminder of them all. He might have been crowned champion had he opted to change only two tires instead of four in the final pit stop. From Bristol to Indianapolis, he has faced several such crushing situations.
He added, “I have no doubts. I have no doubt we would have far more wins, on the layup wins, that were right there that just got ripped away.”
How many wins does Hamlin believe he will secure before retirement?
Veteran driver Kyle Petty was one of the many who guessed how many wins Hamlin would bag before calling it quits. 45 years old now, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is on the verge of retirement, on paper.
Judging from his performance longevity and the point of the curve at which things start to go south, Petty thinks he would not be able to reach 70 wins.
Hamlin, himself, doesn’t think he would get there. He set his goal at 67 when asked the same question. Next on his radar is the 63-race win mark that the two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch currently holds. Overtaking Rowdy would be a significant achievement and a strong testament to the incredible run he has put together late in his career.
