Denny Hamlin’s Las Vegas win on Sunday was his 61st visit to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series. It moved him past Kevin Harvick in 10th place on the all-time list and put him within two of Kyle Busch, who has 63 wins. With Hamlin showing no signs of slowing down, many feel that the JGR veteran’s tally will climb further.
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However, not everyone is ready to predict a meteoric late-career surge of victories from the 45-year-old. On Inside the Race, Kyle Petty offered a view that cuts against the grain, suggesting Hamlin may be the last driver to hit the 60-win mark in this era.
What Petty was trying to convey was that the days of one driver running away with the win column ticks are long gone. That also implies Hamlin himself won’t be landing multiple victories in a season.
In earlier times, teams put all their chips on one driver, and that driver cashed in, stacking wins every year. Names like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson turned seasons into gold mines, piling up victories at a rate that now feels out of reach. Today, the field has more depth, and more drivers have a say. The wins are shared rather than hoarded.
“So I think he’s going to struggle to get to 70. And 70 is a huge number because I think 60 is a number that we’re going to look at Kyle Larson,” Petty said.
“We’re going to look at Joey Logano. We’re going to look at the guys that are greats that are coming along behind Denny Hamlin. They’re not going to get to 60. I don’t think Denny’s going to get to 70,” he continued.
“I think he’s got more wins left in him. But the years of six and seven wins and the year of 10 wins that we used to see, that’s gone. That ain’t coming back. That’s old school racing. We’re going to see guys get three and four wins,” added Petty.
For the JGR ace to reach from 61 to 70, he would need to keep the engine running for years and keep cashing in at the front. That’s a tough task in modern-day NASCAR, especially in the Next Gen era. Petty floated the idea of racing into the late 40s, but pulled back, saying he does not see Hamlin holding on that long.
Hamlin, for his part, has already done the math. When asked to put a number on his eventual tally, he said, “I’m going to fall at 67.”
Whether that comes to fruition or not, Hamlin’s career will certainly leave a lasting mark on NASCAR.
