Steve Letarte Makes It Clear: ‘Denny Hamlin Is the Biggest Star in NASCAR And It’s Not Even Close’

Jerry Bonkowski | 17/10/2025
Steve Letarte (L) and Denny Hamlin (R)

Denny Hamlin may not ever win the Most Popular Driver Award in NASCAR, but in veteran crew chief and broadcaster Steve Letarte’s mind, there is no bigger star in the sport right now – regardless if he is or isn’t the most popular driver – than Hamlin.

“We talk a lot about stars and star power in this,” Letarte said on NASCAR Inside the Race following Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, which Hamlin won, his series-leading sixth win of the season. “He might not win the most popular driver vote, but there’s zero doubt in my mind who the biggest star in the NASCAR garage is. And it’s not even close at that point.

“It’s what makes stardom. And what I mean by that is you can say it’s because he owns a team with Michael Jordan (23XI Racing). You can say it’s because he has his podcast, but what is the exclamation point for stardom is that you are the best at what you should be the best at, and that is him as a race car driver.

“It’s hard to be a star if you’re just okay. So in my mind, like he has the ‘it’ factor for the garage for me, right? He flies around in jets, he’s not afraid to say flies around in jets. He wears a jump man (Jordan’s Nike logo) on his firesuit and he owns a race team with the guy.”

Hamlin is celebrating his 21st year in NASCAR Cup. He’s won 60 races, virtually every big race on the schedule – including the Daytona 500 three times – but he’s still chasing his biggest goal, that of winning the Cup championship. With the way he’s going thus far this season, this very well may be the year for Hamlin to achieve that accomplishment.

“‘I’m okay that fans don’t like him,” Letarte said. “(Hamlin is) polarizing, I think that’s a great word, right? And I think that he gets an emotional reaction from everyone in opposite directions for some, but from everyone. That’s what any sport needs. That’s what NASCAR needs. And I’m glad somebody is doing it on and off the racetrack. Man, everywhere you turn, it’s Denny Hamlin.”

Post Edited By: Nidhi
Denny Hamlin Steve Letarte

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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