Denny Hamlin 2020 season in review

By Jeff Wackerlin, MRN.com | Thursday, December 17, 2020

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Denny Hamlin finished fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings for the second consecutive season after recording seven wins.

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Hamlin began the season by winning his third career Daytona 500. He led three times for 79 laps on his way to becoming the fourth driver to win back-to-back 500s.

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Two of Hamlin's wins came after winning both stages in the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Dover International Speedway. Hamlin led the series with 11 stage wins in 2020.

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Hamlin's win at Kansas Speedway in July was the start of a streak of six consecutive finishes of sixth or better that ended with his Dover triumph. Hamlin's average finish in that span was 2.3.

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The final win of the year for Hamlin came at Talladega Superspeedway in the playoffs. The win marked the 44th of his career to tie him with his childhood hero Bill Elliott for 18th on the all-time wins list.

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The Talladega win gave Hamlin a stellar 2.25 average finish in the four superspeedway races in 2020.

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Hamlin ranked third in laps led with 1,083, leading the most laps in seven races.

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Phoenix marked Hamlin's third appearance in the Championship 4 since the elimination format began in 2014.

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Hamlin: "I’m pretty proud of what this team is doing and what we are building toward. Proud of the effort. We will come back and do it again next year. I’m looking forward to it. We will win as many races as we possibly can to get ourselves back to Phoenix again with another shot."

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On Sept. 21, Hamlin announced that he will be a partner for a new NASCAR Cup Series team - 23XI Racing - with NBA legend Michael Jordan as the principal owner and Bubba Wallace as the driver.

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