Going down in NASCAR history as a multi-time Southern 500 winner is impressive enough. Winning that second Darlington trophy on the way to your first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season title? Now that’s something Denny Hamlin is absolutely up for. And clearly on the right track for.
His win at Darlington not only earns him the historic race hardware, but it also gives the No. 11 FedEx Toyota driver major cred as a championship contender. Even before the totally rad trophy hoist in the sport’s favorite "throwback" weekend, Hamlin has been putting up the numbers and making a strong case to be "that guy," an absolute championship favorite as NASCAR prepares to close up the regular season Saturday in Richmond.
Hamlin's victory Sunday was his second win and eighth top-five in the last 11 races -- tops in the series during that stretch, even better than points leader Martin Truex Jr.
Hamlin's 31 career victories make him the winningest active Cup driver (31) without a championship. It's a designation he's ready to change up Nov. 19 -- a day after his 37th birthday.
"I mean, we've been at this point before where we've had wins going into the playoffs," Hamlin said Sunday. "You know, luck has kept us from championships in the past, and mistakes have kept us from championships in the past. Not many times has it been performance.
"I think you've just got to put those two things together and prepare for anything that can get thrown to you and I know Coach is all about having a game plan, and it's something I've really worked hard on this year is studying notes and coming up with a game plan when I get to the racetrack of how I'm going to approach things, and I think that it's paying off, and hopefully it pays off 11 races from now."
In 2006, Hamlin became the first rookie to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs. He has won a race in every one of his 12 full-time Monster Energy Series seasons and qualified for the playoff push in all but one of those years (2013).
The closest Hamlin has come to celebrating the championship is runner-up to Jimmie Johnson in 2010 -- a near-miss that understandably bothered him. He had a series best eight wins and led Johnson by 15 points entering the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but lost the title by 39 points after an accident with Greg Biffle early in the race.
To his credit, Hamlin has won at seven of the 10 tracks in the playoffs, including a pair of victories at Homestead (2009, 2013) where the champion will be crowned.
Hamlin also has three wins at the site of this week's event, the season finale at his hometown Richmond Raceway. A victory would not only cap off a fine season regular season wrap but it would serve as a starting point for Hamlin’s playoff push.