Although the average starting spot for a New Hampshire winner in the last 10 races has been 1.4, with every one of those victors rolling off the front row, Denny Hamlin will have to claw his way from P9. History favors track position, as nine of the last 10 winners led the most laps, including the last six. Yet Hamlin proved back in 2017 that he could defy the script, capturing the win after leading 54 laps while Martin Truex Jr. set the pace for most of the afternoon.
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That 2017 victory remains Hamlin’s most recent at Loudon, but the 2007 race still stands as one of his defining wins. That summer, he outdueled Jeff Gordon, then the sport’s towering figure, to seize his first Loudon win and the third of his Cup career.
Hamlin later admitted his nerves got the better of him, with his right foot trembling on the gas pedal as Gordon filled his mirrors in the closing laps.
The turning point of the race came on lap 255, when the leaders dove to pit road under caution. Hamlin rolled the dice, taking only two fresh tires while Gordon, Truex, and others opted for four. The gamble vaulted him from fourth to the point, and he never relinquished it through the final stretch of the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 race.
As Hamlin fought to hang on, Gordon waged a fierce battle with Truex, running side by side and nose to tail until Gordon finally cleared him with seven laps left. Gordon then reeled in Hamlin, riding his bumper through the final turn. Hamlin dug deep, keeping the No. 11 out of the wall and holding off the series leader by 0.068 seconds, less than a car length, to bank his third career win.
The closest margin of victory for a Cup race at New Hampshire was .068 seconds, when Denny Hamlin beat Jeff Gordon in July 2007. pic.twitter.com/UbLLqQQruU
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) September 19, 2025
In his post-race interview, Hamlin said, “You see Jeff coming and you’re trying your best to not be the guy who chokes at the end. I was all over the track those last two laps. I was basically just trying not to give up the bottom…”
“We were back in sixth and seventh most of the day, and the only shot we had was to get track position. Two tires worked for us earlier (in the race), and we kind of made a note that anything inside of 120 laps to go, we were going to do two.”
Now, even with Gordon retired, Hamlin remains a name fans won’t hesitate to back. With Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing sweeping the first three playoff races, another win for the No. 11 would feel less like an upset and more like the continuation of a juggernaut, marking JGR’s fourth straight postseason success.
