Denny Hamlin through the years

By Staff Report | Tuesday, February 18, 2020

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Denny Hamlin made his NASCAR national series debut in 2004 at Indianapolis Raceway Park in a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series event. He finished 10th in the race. Later that same year, he made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing. He made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2005 at Kansas Speedway with JGR.

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Hamlin credits J.D. Gibbs (seen here in 2009) with giving him his first opportunity at Joe Gibbs Racing. In a Twitter video in 2017, Hamlin said, "He's the one who actually gave me my first opportunity with Joe Gibbs Racing. We went to a test at Hickory Motor Speedway, called his dad up, they signed me about 13 years ago." Hamlin dedicated the 2019 season to Gibbs following his passing after battling a neurological disease.

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A sweep of the Pocono Raceway races from the pole position highlighted Hamlin's rookie year in 2006. Those two wins along with 20 top 10s saw Hamlin finish third in the season standings. Hamlin also took home the Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors for the 2006 season.

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Hamlin won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the summer of 2007 and spent much of the summer stretch running second in the standings. However, two finishes of 29th or worse in the first three playoff races effectively ended his title hopes.

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In Hamlin's career, he has had quite the success on short tracks. He even hosted the Denny Hamlin Short-Track Challenge for several years. In 2008, he scored his first Martinsville Speedway win in the sport's top series. For his career, he has five wins at "The Paperclip" -- tied with Pocono for his most at any track on the circuit.

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The 2009 season saw Hamlin earn his first win at his home track of Richmond Raceway. He dominated the fall race, leading 299 of a possible 400 laps for the victory. He won four races that year and led his most laps in a season (1,380).

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The 2010 season marked Hamlin's most successful to date. He won eight races covering nearly every track type on the schedule. Hamlin also led in the point standings for the first time in his career. Entering the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hamlin carried a 15-point lead but ended up 39 points behind champion Jimmie Johnson (after Johnson's runner-up and Hamlin's 14th-place result). The runner-up finish in the standings marks the closest Hamlin has come to a Cup Series championship.

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A win at Martinsville in a 2011 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race put Hamlin in select company as a driver to win in all three NASCAR national series.

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The 2012 season saw Hamlin notch five race wins, including a victory in Bristol Motor Speedway's night race that summer. The season also marked the third time in four years that Hamlin led more than 1,000 laps.

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The early-season action in 2013 involved an incident with Hamlin and Joey Logano at Bristol. The next week at Auto Club Speedway the two raced each other hard in the closing lap for the win when contact sent Hamlin into the inside wall. The JGR driver suffered a back injury that kept him sidelined for four races. This is a look at the wrecked No. 11 after the California race.

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The 2013 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series fall race Hamlin ran at Martinsville saw the Air Jordan logo on the hood of his truck. The Jumpman logo has been a staple on Hamlin’s fire suit in recent years. Hamlin is known to be a big basketball fan, hosting the "Hoop Group" (a basketball league involving NASCAR folks) at his home court.

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Entering the 2013 season finale at Homestead, Hamlin had yet to notch a win on the season -- something he had done in every full-time season. Hamlin got the victory in Miami, leading 72 laps to keep his streak intact for another season.

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The 2014 playoffs saw tempers flare aplenty with Hamlin very heated with Brad Keselowski after the Charlotte Motor Speedway playoff race. Hamlin found success in navigating the new elimination-style format making it through to the Championship 4. Hamlin held the lead with nine laps to go but couldn't hold off eventual champion Kevin Harvick on fresher tires. Hamlin finished third behind Harvick and Ryan Newman in the standings.

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Hamlin qualified for the 2015 playoffs with a win at Martinsville and made an early statement at Chicagoland Speedway. He came alive late thanks to a gutsy call to stay out after a late caution. He grabbed the lead with five laps to go and held on for the win. The victory locked him into the Round of 12 and came 12 days after he tore the ACL in his right knee playing basketball.

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Hamlin won the sport's crown jewel event to open the 2016 season by capturing the Daytona 500. Hamlin surged late to beat Martin Truex Jr. by 0.010 seconds – the closest finish in the event. The victory snapped a 23-year drought for JGR in the race as well. A letter Hamlin wrote in elementary school that his mom posted to Twitter the next week revealed more on his aspirations to win the sport's biggest race at a young age.

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Hamlin had been vocal about not being a fan of lobsters. So following his July victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, crew chief Mike Wheeler had some fun at the driver's expense in Victory Lane as a lobster is the traditional prize for the winning driver.

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Battling for a win and a spot in the Championship 4, Hamlin made contact with Chase Elliott on Lap 498 that would have a ripple effect for the rest of the 2017 season. Hamlin took the bumper to the No. 24 and sent the then-leader Elliott up the track, leading to a spin and a caution. Elliott confronted Hamlin after the race on the track.

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Hamlin and Elliott found themselves racing each other at ISM Raceway near Phoenix two weeks later. Hamlin had led 193 laps and looked to be in position to advance to the Championship 4. The two raced side-by-side with some contact and the racing eventually forced Hamlin out of room and into the wall.

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Hamlin got the 2019 season off to a great start by winning the Daytona 500 -- his second triumph in the "Great American Race." Hamlin dedicated the victory to J.D. Gibbs, the son of team owner Joe Gibbs who passed away earlier in the year. The tribute was made even more special when Joe Gibbs Racing finished 1-2-3 in the race as Kyle Busch and Erik Jones came home second and third, respectively.

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The on-again, off-again rivalry between Hamlin and Logano flared up at Martinsville. On-track contact of Hamlin's doing led to a discussion between the two post-race. It turned physical when Logano smacked Hamlin on the shoulder, leading to the scene above.

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Hamlin faced practically a must-win scenario to advance to the Championship 4 in 2019, and he did just that at Phoenix in one of the most clutch moments of the driver's career. However, he wasn't able to capture a championship the next week at Homestead as teammate Busch won the race with Hamlin coming home in 10th.

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In 2020, Denny Hamlin became the fourth driver in NASCAR history and the first since Sterling Marlin to win back-to-back Daytona 500s. He now has three wins in "The Great American Race."