Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and operates 23XI Racing with basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan.
As a driver, Hamlin has achieved a total of 60 NASCAR Cup Series victories. His notable wins include the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022, the Southern 500 in 2010, 2017, and 2021, and the Daytona 500 in 2016, 2019, and 2020. He is also one of five drivers in history to win the Daytona 500 in back-to-back seasons, joining the ranks of Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin, and William Byron.
Widely regarded as the greatest driver in NASCAR history to never have won a championship, Hamlin holds the record for the most wins in the NASCAR Cup Series without winning a championship. Despite not securing a title, he has reached 17 of the 18 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, missing only in 2013, when a collision caused an injury that sidelined him for a significant portion of the early season. Hamlin drew attention right from his 2006 rookie season, when he finished third overall and won Rookie of the Year.
Driving career
Beginnings
Hamlin was born in Tampa, Florida, and spent most of his childhood in Chesterfield Court House, Virginia. He began his racing career at the age of seven in 1988, racing go-karts. By 1997, at the age of fifteen, he had won the WKA Manufacturers Cup. At the age of sixteen, he started racing mini stocks, and in his first stock car race at Langley Speedway, he not only secured the pole position but also won the race. Hamlin progressed to the Grand Stock division in 1998 and moved on to Late Model Stock Cars in 2000. In 2002, he achieved ten Late Model victories, surpassing that with 25 wins and thirty poles out of 36 races in 2003. In 2004, while competing full-time in Late Model Stock Cars, he signed a driver development contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.NASCAR career
2004–2006
In 2004, Hamlin competed in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races with EJP Racing, achieving a tenth-place finish in his debut at IRP. He then made his first ARCA RE/MAX Series start at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing third in the No. 10 Pontiac for Fast Track Racing, owned by Andy Hillenburg. Hamlin's final race of the year was at Darlington Raceway, where he made his Busch Series debut. Starting twenty-seventh due to a rainout, he finished eighth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Driven Performance Oil Chevrolet.In 2005, Hamlin ran the full 2005 season in the Busch Series after replacing Mike Bliss in the No. 20 Rockwell Automation-sponsored Chevrolet. As a rookie, he finished fifth in the final championship points standings, achieving eleven top-ten finishes and earning $1,064,110 Hamlin also made his debut in the Nextel Cup Series, driving the No. 11 FedEx-sponsored Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway. He was announced as the full-time driver for the No. 11 car for the 2006 season after Jason Leffler was released. In his seven Cup starts that year, he secured three top-ten finishes and one pole position at Phoenix.
In 2006, Hamlin completed his first full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series while also competing full-time in the Busch Series. In his inaugural restrictor-plate race as a Nextel Cup driver, he won the 70-lap Budweiser Shootout, defeating all the previous year's pole winners and becoming the first Rookie of the Year candidate to win the event. Hamlin secured his first career Busch Series victory at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on March 5. On June 11, 2006, he earned his first Cup Series win at the Pocono 500, where he also achieved his second career pole. Hamlin followed this with a second win on July 23 in the Pennsylvania 500, also at Pocono Raceway, making him only the second rookie in Nextel Cup history to sweep both races at a track in the same season, with both victories coming from pole position. Hamlin won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award and finished third in the final Cup standings, achieving the highest points finish for a rookie in the modern era of NASCAR, and the best since James Hylton in 1966. Notably, he became the first rookie to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup, finishing third in points.
2007–2008
in 2007, Hamlin began the 2007 Cup season with a 28th-place finish in the Daytona 500. He achieved his third career Cup victory at the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire. However, he finished 43rd in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona after getting involved in an early wreck, marking the first 43rd-place finish of his career. Hamlin clinched a spot in the Chase for the Cup, earning the sixth seed with a fifty-point deficit to the leader, but ultimately finished twelfth overall in the final standings. In the Nationwide Series, Hamlin achieved three victories, winning races at Darlington, Michigan, and Dover while driving the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. He also secured a victory at Milwaukee, although Aric Almirola started the race and drove for sixty laps before handing the car over to Hamlin. As a result, Almirola received the points, purse, and credit for the win.In 2008, Hamlin had a season similar to the previous year, finishing eighth in points and winning early in the season at Martinsville. At Richmond, he led 381 out of 410 laps in the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400, showcasing one of the most dominant performances by a driver since 2000, but ultimately finished 24th after cutting a tire. Additionally, he won four races in the Nationwide Series, driving both the No. 18 and No. 20 cars for Gibbs, as well as the No. 32 Dollar General/Hass Avocados-sponsored car for Braun Racing.
2009: 4-win season
In 2009, he continued driving the No. 11 car in The Sprint Cup Series and also shared the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series. On August 3, 2009, Hamlin secured his fifth career Cup win at Pocono. Before the final restart, he confidently declared, "I'm going to win this race." True to his word, he surged from sixth to first, breaking a fifty-race winless streak. This victory marked his third at Pocono and was especially emotional, as it came just days after the passing of his grandmother, Thelma Clark.Hamlin dominated once again at Richmond, finally securing a win at his home track. On October 25, 2009, he held off Jimmie Johnson to win the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. He concluded the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with a victory at the Ford 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway starting from the 38th position and led seventy laps. This capped off his year with an impressive fifth place finish in the overall standings, achieving four wins, fifteen top-five finishes, and twenty top-ten finishes.
2010: 8-win season and runner-up in points
In 2010, Hamlin entered the season with high expectations, and many saw him as a strong contender to unseat Jimmie Johnson as the Sprint Cup Champion. However, on January 22, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing basketball. Despite the injury, Hamlin postponed surgery until after the season to focus on competing. On March 27, he announced that he would undergo knee surgery the following Monday to prevent further damage.On March 29, 2010, Hamlin won the rain-postponed race at Martinsville Speedway in dramatic fashion, finishing ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano and Jeff Gordon. Just two days later, he underwent knee surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee. Despite the setback, Hamlin returned to racing on April 19, 2010, just three weeks after the procedure. Starting from 28th at Texas, he worked his way up through the field and, with thirteen laps remaining, restarted in second place. Hamlin passed Jeff Burton on the outside and held off Jimmie Johnson to secure his tenth career win and his second victory in three races.
Less than three weeks later, on May 8, Hamlin visited Victory Lane for the third time in 2010 at Darlington Raceway. He had a dominant weekend, winning both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series events. Hamlin became the first driver to sweep both races at Darlington since Mark Martin in 1993. Hamlin began in 8th position at Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500, leading 108 laps to secure the victory. A few races later, he dominated the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Presented by Target at Pocono Raceway, leading the most laps and earning his twelfth career win, his fourth of the season, and his fourth at Pocono. The following week, Hamlin set a career-high with his fifth win of the season, triumphing at Michigan after starting seventh.
Later in the 2010 season, Hamlin finished 43rd in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta, dropping five positions in the Chase standings to 10th overall. Despite the setback, the top ten drivers in the Chase were locked in after Atlanta, ensuring Hamlin's spot in the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup. In the first Chase race, Carl Edwards' driver error caused Hamlin to spin with 85 laps remaining. As several cars ahead ran out of fuel, Hamlin narrowly lost to Clint Bowyer.
In the AAA 400 at Dover, Hamlin finished 9th, retaining the points lead by 35 over Jimmie Johnson. The following week at Kansas, Hamlin struggled with a difficult-handling car and finished twelfth, which cost him the points lead. Jimmie Johnson, who finished second, took an eight-point advantage. The next week at California, Hamlin managed a top-ten finish but continued to lose ground to Johnson's No. 48 team. At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin led a lap—his first lead in the Chase—finishing 4th, one spot behind points leader Jimmie Johnson, which cost him five points. However, he achieved a significant triumph at Martinsville Speedway, securing his series-leading seventh victory of the season. This victory marked Hamlin's third consecutive win at Martinsville and his fourth overall at the historic track, narrowing the points gap to just six behind Jimmie Johnson, who finished 5th.
Next up was the Amp Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Denny Hamlin started in seventeenth place and worked his way up to finish 9th, two spots behind points leader Jimmie Johnson. This result put Hamlin eight points further behind in the standings, totaling fourteen points. He then won the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, taking the lead in the standings by 33 points over Johnson with two races remaining. At Phoenix, Hamlin started 14th but finished twelfth. After the race, he was furious and threw a water bottle in frustration because he had to pit with fourteen laps to go due to a fuel shortage. With one race left, Hamlin led Johnson by fifteen points and was 46 points ahead of Kevin Harvick. However, in the Final race, he lost the lead to Johnson after spinning out and ultimately finished fourteenth, ending up 39 points behind Johnson.