If he had not found success as a NASCAR driver, Denny Hamlin may have become a great juggler. Wait! Hamlin is a great juggler already. In the last week, he had to deal with being on the losing side of an appeal of the antitrust lawsuit the team he co-owns, 23XI Racing, as well as Front Row Motorsports, have against NASCAR.
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Then, he’s been waiting for over a week for partner Jordan Fish to deliver the couple’s third child — and first son — something Hamlin has been greatly anticipating for quite some time.
He’s also been touting the virtues of budding Cup star Carson Hocevar — although Hamlin admits he’s ragged on Hocevar at times on his weekly podcast. But there’s no denying Hamlin respects Hocevar’s talent and ability, calling him a star of the future.
And last but not least, at a time when most other Cup drivers have already called it quits or are in the process of retiring, Hamlin looks like he’s gotten a second life of sorts. At 44 years old, Hamlin should be thinking about what will come in his post-NASCAR career. But instead, he’s racing as well as he ever has.
Sunday’s win at Michigan was Hamlin’s third in this season’s first 15 races. It was also the 57th victory of his Cup career and moved him into third place in the Cup standings with 11 races left to go in the regular season before the 10-race playoffs begin.
Has Hamlin found NASCAR’s fountain of youth?
Hamlin is driving like somebody in his prime, rather than in his waning years. Even though he said in Sunday’s post-race press conference that he’d be fine with his 57th win being his last, with the way he’s driving, it’s very likely Hamlin has a number of wins still left in him.
And then there’s the one thing that Hamlin occasionally jokes about: that he will never stop driving until he wins his first Cup championship. And with the way he’s driving this year, that long-held goal may potentially be in reach.
In Sunday’s post-race press conference, Hamlin joked when asked if he could explain what’s in his head and how he’s wired. “You don’t want any parts of this head, no parts,” he said with a laugh. “The tackle box is full. There’s all kinds of stuff going on.”
Then he became a bit more serious, trying to describe himself — which even he sometimes finds difficult. “It’s just the way I’m wired; it’s the way I’ve always been,” he said.
“I don’t know if I’ve always been this way, but certainly over the last 10, 15 years I’ve been this way where I’m just really addicted to the process, the process of being good.
“It’s become harder and harder every single year. The process changes every year of what it takes to excel. But I’m racing guys — some of ’em pretty much half my age — and they’re so good. They’re really, really good. It’s really gratifying when I know I can run with ’em and I know I can beat ’em.”
And beat them he did indeed on Sunday — in somewhat old-school fashion.
Here’s how Hamlin won Sunday’s race
Carson Hocevar, whom Hamlin rates highly for his talent and future potential in the Cup Series, was leading with 19 laps to go and appeared unbeatable — until a left rear tire blew, forcing him to pit and resulting in a disappointing 29th-place finish for him and his Spire Motorsports team.
Then there was Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron. He and Hamlin engaged in a back-and-forth battle in the closing laps until Byron ran out of gas on the final lap and had to pit, going from a likely win or top-five finish to a lowly P28.
But being the 21-year Cup Series veteran that he is, Hamlin was able to save just enough fuel when he needed it the most — and Byron dropping out helped immensely. Again, it was vintage racing where Hamlin knew what to do, and how and when to do it — and then he did so.
“Today was one of those gratifying moments where you’ve got a young driver, one of the best drivers out there, he knows how to defend, do all the right things to keep me behind, but I still was able to put my craft at work and get the best of him, at least today, right?” Hamlin said of Byron.
Clearly pleased with himself, he went on to add, “It just feels really good, to 20 years later, still feel like this is the best that I’ve ever been.” And something tells us that we’re going to see a lot more of Hamlin’s best as he potentially earns that elusive first Cup championship.
Much like the way it took Dale Earnhardt 20 years and numerous heartbreaks before he finally won the Daytona 500 in 1998, Hamlin has had his own share of heartbreaks in his full-time Cup career, never able to join the same club as guys like Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski have done in becoming Cup champions.
In the Chinese calendar, 2025 is the Year of the Snake. But in the NASCAR calendar, it’s looking more and more like this is the Year of Denny Hamlin.
