Denny Hamlin captured his third points-paying NASCAR Cup Series victory of the year Sunday at Michigan International Speedway – the last two of his amazing wins were stunning rallies through the field coming in consecutive weeks starting from the rear of the grid – spectacular demonstrations of the head-down, poise and confidence of a veteran.
At 45 years old in his 21st fulltime season, Hamlin still continues to raise an already stellar game and he’s done so recently in the midst of hugely emotional personal loss – his father during the off-season and then his friend, former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch only weeks ago.
Even in these difficult life-impacting moments Hamlin is proving to be a source of strength to himself and others – raising his game on and off the race track; responding with leadership and compassion. And wins.
His victory Sunday in the No. 11 JGR Toyota – by more than 11-seconds on the field – was the 63rd of his career, tying him for ninth place on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list with the two-time champion Kyle Busch. And Hamlin showed up prepared for the moment, marking the achievement with an emotional and so-appropriate victory celebration waving a specially-made Kyle Busch flag outside his window and capping the day with a bow – Busch’s trademark winning salute.
It will be an iconic moment in the sport ever after.
“The NASCAR community has kind of just been through it over the last — certainly the last few weeks, but then just generally in the last six, eight months,” Hamlin said. “It’s been tough. I just wanted to pay my respects to someone that I really did look up to and taught me so much as a teammate. There’s nothing we can say or do that’s going to make his family feel better, but at least during that little time, you can pay him the respects that he deserves.”
Something else Busch could definitely appreciate, is the strength of Hamlin’s game right now.
Hamlin won the non-points All-Star race four weeks ago and has added those stunning comeback victories at Nashville and Michigan to a win at Las Vegas in March. Four times in the last five races, Hamlin has finished third-place or better.
That kind of early summer effort, combined with Tyler Reddick’s first DNF of the season Sunday at Michigan, has cut Reddick’s one-time 100-points plus lead atop the standings to only 51 points with 11 races remaining in the regular season. The five-race winner Reddick, who drives for 23XI Racing team Hamlin co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan, and Hamlin have been 1-2 atop the championship standings since April.
“I knew the only way we ever could catch him is he was going to have to have bad luck, I said it weeks ago,” Hamlin conceded of the narrowing points chase. “He had bad luck today. We were in the same wreck. We were turned around backwards. Luckily, no one hit us in turn one. Our car wasn’t very good, and we just, we overcame it.
“I think he’s going to stretch it out at San Diego and Sonoma (Calif.),” Hamlin said of Reddick’s road course prowess and the upcoming road course races. “I still think he’s in a really good place, but if we keep doing this, it will be — it will keep them interesting and honest for sure.”
Hamlin heads into Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (3 p.m. ET on Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) deservedly both the sentimental and logical race favorite. His seven wins there are most in history.
The iconic 2.5-mile triangular shaped Pocono track is where Hamlin earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win in 2006, ultimately sweeping the season’s two races there – and doing so in impressive fashion by claiming both trophies from pole position.
Amazingly, he’s been able to maintain that magic all these years later. In just the last three Pocono races, he was a victory (2023) followed by back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2024-25 – a Pocono resume that also features an incredible 17 top-five and 24 top-10 showings in 36 starts.
Confidence is not a problem for Hamlin at Pocono. Or anywhere else right now.
“Just experience,” Hamlin answered when asked why he was still able to be so successful two decades into his career.
“I was talking to [23 year old JGR teammate] Ty Gibbs before the race, and he was like how many starts do you have? . …He’s like, ‘man, I’m at the point now where I feel like I know what I need. I know what I’m looking for.’ And I said, ‘yeah, imagine having four times as many starts as you have.
“That’s the advantage I have every single week. He feels comfortable where he’s at, but just add another 15 years of experience, and you know the transitions of the track and what happens when it gets cloudy, what happens when it gets sunny, what happens when the wind is this direction, that direction, all those things you just learn over time.
“It’s why we have the upper hand right now.”
And indeed, he does.
— NASCAR Wire Service —