Denny Hamlin is currently fighting for a place in the 2024 Cup Series Championship 4. He is 18 points below the elimination line and has one opportunity, in Martinsville, to close that gap.
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What increases the pressure on him is that this could be one of his final chances to be champion. Looking back at his career one can’t help but draw similarities with that of the yesteryear legend, Mark Martin.
Martin, 65, retired from NASCAR in 2013. Although his illustrious journey was filled with fame, money, and accolades, the one thing that he didn’t get to experience was the joy of being a Cup Series champion.
At 43, Hamlin is on the verge of following the same route. In the two decades that he has spent in the premier tier, he has won every big race there is to win. But not a championship.
This comparison naturally leads to the question, who has had a better career among them? When Martin was asked this in a recent interview, he replied, “Denny Hamlin! Three Daytona 500s and 55 wins. That’s 15 more than me.”
“And three of them were Daytona 500s. When he came on the scene as a rookie, he blew our doors off. He is underrated. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”
I disagree, but love ya @markmartin
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) October 29, 2024
Hearing such words from one of the most highly regarded drivers in history can be a trophy of its own. That’s exactly how the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt.
He responded to Martin’s X post of the praise, “I disagree, but love ya @markmartin”. The sweet exchange left fans on the platform discussing their opinions about the extensive careers of these two great drivers.
A brief comparison of the careers of Hamlin and Martin
As Martin stated, Hamlin did win the Daytona 500 thrice. He has also won the Southern 500 thrice and the Coca-Cola 600 once. Although these are great achievements, Martin has a long list of his victories as well.
He was the IROC champion five times. He won the Southern 500 and the Winston 500, twice each. He was also the winner of the 2002 Coca-Cola 600.
Martin hasn’t been inducted into the Hall of Fame without reason. What brings the two drivers together, as discussed previously, is their inability to secure a championship.
He came ridiculously close to winning the title on multiple occasions. He finished the standings as runner-up five times and in third place three times. Hamlin isn’t far different.
Michael Waltrip once asked, “Will Denny Hamlin win a championship? Now that he has done it all, that’s a question that everybody wants to ask him about. Will that happen for Denny? He’s obviously one of the best that’s ever set down in a NASCAR car. But he hasn’t accomplished that. Sort of like Mark Martin. The one thing that was missing in his career.”
Unlike for Martin, it is not too late for Hamlin to be a champion. He will go to Martinsville this weekend and hope to secure himself a Championship 4 seat.
Should he do it, it will all then come down to the season finale in Phoenix on November 10. The next few days will play a big role in shaping the legacy of Denny Hamlin.
