Increased comfort level helps Hamlin find his voice (cont'd)

That all changed when Stewart left to form his own race team, and Gibbs entered the 2009 season with three Cup drivers all aged 28 or younger. Hamlin leapt into the void, refining his cars more to his driving style, and effectively seizing the mantle as team leader. He began to demand more of certain people, place emphasis on different things. On the race track, it added up to his best season, a four-victory campaign that sets him up as possibly Jimmie Johnson's chief rival in 2010. Off the track, he carried that same level of increased confidence with him.

"I think a lot of it, too, has to do with my role within the team. I had to step up. I had to," Hamlin said. "Who was going to do it? I had to step up within the team and be a leader, and I think I became comfortable with that position. And I'm not a leader in our sport. I'm not Jeff [Gordon], I'm not those guys. But I've gotten comfortable enough learning my role within the race team that now I can do it on a broader spectrum and talk about the whole sport."

And talk he does. Throughout his weeks-long feud with Brad Keselowski at the end of the 2009 Nationwide season, Hamlin was often unapologetic about the issues he had with the younger driver, or the vengeance he intended to seek out on the race track. In the wake of NASCAR's town-hall meetings, he wasn't shy about offering suggestions -- some of which were submitted to him by readers of his Twitter account -- for improving the sport. Following the fall race at Talladega, which was preceded by a strict edict against bump-drafting in the drivers' meeting, Hamlin wasn't happy about alleged pre-race lobbying by Gordon, which in some minds precipitated the warning.

"It's just frustrating that he's got that much pull with NASCAR," Hamlin said a few weeks later. "We've all driven this [current car] the same amount of years. He's been around longer, but we've all came into this together. I just wish that everyone could have equal say-so, and not just somebody behind closed doors be able to change how rules go."

There are other outspoken drivers in NASCAR, but many of them prefer to voice their grievances via private channels, and not publicly as Hamlin is wont to do. Hamlin said he tries to make his opinions known to NASCAR through private meetings as well. Are the sport's powers-that-be listening? On that, he's not so sure. "I just wish NASCAR would ask for my opinion every now and then," he said in the aftermath of the Talladega race. But that's not going to keep him from speaking out.

"I'm comfortable enough right now that I feel like, what's the worst that could happen if I voice my opinion?" Hamlin said. "And that's what it is. It's just an opinion. It's not the right answer, it's not the wrong answer. It's just an opinion. I only voice my opinion on things I hear from the fans, and I just relay that message."

Hamlin receives plenty of feedback from fans on his Twitter account, and often interacts with his followers -- like on Christmas Eve, for instance, when he asked readers to submit photos of themselves with their families. His strong opinions on NASCAR subjects haven't earned him any public rebukes from the sanctioning body, although he did have a series of meetings with officials to try and defuse his on-track feud with Keselowski. But right now, NASCAR seems willing to let Hamlin be himself, even if some of his comments occasionally stray from the party line.

"I definitely feel like some of the things I've said have been borderline, just maybe pushing it too much," he said. "I'm just waiting on NASCAR to say, 'Let us handle this.' I think NASCAR has done a great job this year of letting us be ourselves, whether that's on the race track, taking care of business with someone [else], or whether it's voicing our opinions. I think they've kind of loosened the reins on us as far as that's concerned, and I think it's making our sport better."

And clearly, Hamlin thrives in such an environment. If he believes it, he's not shy about making it known. Like late one night in Las Vegas, at a banquet after-party with the four-time defending series champion, when he announced in so many words: it's you vs. me next year, big guy. No one was surprised. That's just Denny being Denny, after all.

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