Denny Hamlin secured his fifth victory of the season at Gateway on Sunday and fixed himself a spot in the Round of 12 of the Cup Series playoffs. Starting from the pole, he finished ahead of his teammate Chase Briscoe in front of a sellout crowd.
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Speaking to the press in the aftermath, he addressed the reasons behind his obsessively relentless work ethic. The conversation began when he was asked if he was working harder now than he was five or ten years ago, and if yes, the reasons for it.
Hamlin replied that the level of competition in the series is a lot higher now. Teams are seldom able to build cars that have significantly higher speed than that of their competitors. He believes that the only way to set himself apart is by working harder than the rest.
He said, “You 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 then go fix them on the racetrack.”
Despite being 44 years old, Hamlin is still winning races and being the meanest guy on the track. This level of competence cannot come from skill alone. He continued to admit that he will miss keeping himself this busy when retirement does come calling.
But then, he is also confident that he will find something else to latch on to. Being the results-based person he is, the No. 11 Toyota driver finds it very gratifying to go out on the track and defeat foes half his age. That is going to be what he misses most.
How Hamlin’s race unfolded at Gateway
With roughly 65 laps left in the race, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe pitted during a cycle of green flag pit stops. The former passed Brad Keselowski for the lead on a Lap 216 restart and held it the rest of the way.
As is nature, Hamlin delivered some words for the crowd that erupted with a chorus of boos. He quipped, “You can either get on the bandwagon or get run over by it.”
NASCAR’s top tier title has eluded him for 20 years. Through this statement victory, he announced to the world that he can still lift the trophy and boldly mark his name in history.
Retirement has never been closer to him than it is now. Hopefully for his fans, Denny Hamlin can call himself a Cup Series champion soon.
