Few drivers know the sting of losing a championship quite like Denny Hamlin, but he’s far from the first to carry that burden. Kenny Wallace, one of NASCAR’s most outspoken veterans, recently revisited his own heartbreak from 1991, when he watched a title slip through his fingers at Martinsville Speedway.
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Wallace’s account, shared after seeing Hamlin’s reflective post-championship trip to his hometown track, was as raw as it was relatable. Recalling how he fell short of the Busch Grand National Championship to Bobby Labonte during that fateful Martinsville race, he could only empathize with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
“I can relate,” said Wallace. “In 1991, I lost the Busch Grand National Championship on the very last race at Martinsville to Bobby Labonte. It crushed me. I took sports therapy. There, I admit it…”
The veteran said the defeat hit him like a ton of bricks, one of those moments that burrows deep into a competitor’s psyche.
Both Wallace and Labonte entered that season’s final race under immense pressure. They had each bagged their first wins earlier in the year and carried the added weight of family legacies, with Kenny as the younger brother of 1989 Cup champion Rusty Wallace and Bobby following in the footsteps of his brother Terry, who had captured the 1984 Winston Cup title.
Labonte began the race from the pole and kept his nose clean, finishing fifth in the Winston Classic. Wallace, meanwhile, ran into brake trouble before the 50-lap mark of the 200-lap contest. The issue doomed his day and effectively handed Labonte the title.
When the checkered flag waved, Labonte’s 4,264 points were 74 clear of Wallace’s tally, a big margin for a driver who had spent the season’s final weeks within striking distance.
Looking back, Wallace admitted the loss haunted him for years, though therapy eventually helped dull the pain. And when he saw Hamlin’s recent Instagram post from Amelia County, where Hamlin first fell in love with racing, Wallace recognized the same healing process at work.
“Most likely, Denny got some great advice from sports therapy,” Wallace said. He addressed how, when a person has recurring dreams, the only way to stop them is to go to the origin. The origin means the place where the dreams happen.
For Hamlin, that meant going home to remember why he first climbed behind the wheel. For Wallace, that memory still lives vividly in 1991, etched into the walls of Martinsville.
“It destroyed me,” he confessed. “To this day, it bothers me.” Yet even as he carried the scars, Wallace found strength. He believes Hamlin will too. “He’s not done,” Wallace insisted. “Hamlin will heal up, and he’ll be back.”
