Denny Hamlin secured his fifth win of the season and the 59th of his Cup Series career at Gateway on Sunday. The success firmly positioned him in the Round of 12 of the ongoing playoffs. Despite being 44 years old, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has sent a strong message about his legitimacy to be a title winner to the entire crowd. This is something to be strongly admired.
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It is undeniable at this point that he is overperforming for his age. The man is only the seventh driver in history to win more than three races after making 700 starts in the big show.
Hamlin is also the 11th most winning Cup driver and is just one win short of equalling Kevin Harvick, who sits in tenth place. These exploits did not go unnoticed by his team owner, Joe Gibbs, who lauded him post-race.
The benefactor said, “The discussion is always, ‘At what point does somebody start going downhill?’ I think in Denny’s case, he’s got a real drive.
“And to be quite truthful, he’s got a lot that he gets excited about. His podcast, 23XI Racing. He’s in one meeting after another. I think he’s ADD in a way. I mean, he loves more stuff, the better off he is.”
Denny Hamlin is winning A LOT for how deep he is into his career.
He’s only the 7th driver to earn 3+ wins after his 700th start: pic.twitter.com/m59KGgkl4S
— Daniel Céspedes (@_DanielCespedes) September 7, 2025
‘The Coach’ continued to note how strong Hamlin’s work ethic is at this age. Athletes usually start to trail off as they get older. It’s the law of nature. But the No. 11 driver is going against every norm by stacking up wins like they were candy.
The biggest reason for his being able to do that is his work ethic, as Gibbs pointed out. It is only a matter of time before he rides further up the all-time winners’ list.
How Hamlin stays ahead of his rivals
Speaking to the press after reaching Victory Lane at Gateway, Hamlin admitted that he has been working harder than ever before over the last five to ten years. This is because he has the burning desire to be better than the youngsters who compete with him every weekend.
He said, “You’ve got to know what to look for. You have to identify it and then go to work to fix it. And so, that’s where I feel like I’m good at, identifying the problem first and, you know, all my problems essentially. My job is to find all my flaws and then it’s my job to go fix them on the racetrack.”
Hamlin strongly trusts that the only way to set himself apart from the crowd in times when parity is being strictly enforced is through hard work.
