Hamlin reemerges as title favorite with statement win in Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Denny Hamlin is in the midst of his best season since a career-defining -- for better and worse -- 2010 campaign. If next weekend’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway goes according to plan, that definition will be due for a hasty update. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran put on a show in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500, with the pre-playoffs championship favorite leading a race-high 143 of 312 laps. It came at a crucial time, coming into the elimination race 20 points below the cutline. It came when most were already penciling in a repeat of last year’s Championship 4, with that quartet standing strong above the fold on Sunday morning. It came because, when it mattered most, Denny delivered. RELATED: Hamlin victorious in the desert | Full race results Though a path via points was possible at the drop of the green flag, a Stage 2 victory by rival Joey Logano dropped that possibility from eh, maybe to don’t even bother – go for the win. He did exactly that, of course, and has reestablished himself as the title favorite before cars hit the track for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Miami (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Yeah, yeah. We’ve seen how this story ends – with Hamlin, arguably the best driver at Homestead, finding a way to squander what, on paper, looks like a sure thing. He was just as well-positioned -- if not more so -- to claim his first title in 2010, picking up his career-high eighth win of the season at Texas before watching the sand castle fortress he had built over the course of 34 races be washed away in an instant by a wave of blue and white (with neon yellow numbers.) Hamlin finished the season with finishes of 12th and 14th at Phoenix and Miami, respectively, handing a fifth straight championship over to Jimmie Johnson. There are no guarantees at Homestead – look no further than Logano’s victory last year over the vaunted “Big 3” that had dominated the entire season – but this at least feels different than 2010, or any other year. It feels like it’s Hamlin’s race, and title, to lose. This season has sneakily had whiffs of it finally being Hamlin’s turn at the head table, from his season-opening Daytona 500 win – his second – to wins at Texas-1, Pocono-2, Bristol-2, Kansas-2 and Phoenix-2. That’s a lot of wins, at a lot of different types of race tracks, at a lot of different stages of the season. Those victories certainly point to, in my mind, a team that has its proverbial “stuff” together. And has the driver to take advantage of it. This is Hamlin’s chance to rewrite history, so to speak, and make amends for the one black mark on his racing resume that's holding him back from entering the all-time greats conversation. “This is very similar to 2010 in the sense of the car speed we've had this season. There's similarities, for sure. But it is very different,” Hamlin said after his Sunday win. “I think this is a tighter-knit group of guys. I think Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) takes a lot of pride in assembling this group of guys from top to bottom. I know we kind of did an introduction with everyone at JGR early maybe in January, something like that. We sat around here and Chris talked about, 'Here is what we're going to do. I just want you to see this is the team that's going to take us all the way.' " And it has. Just one more race stands between the 11 squad and the 'ship. The old notion that “you have to lose a title before you learn how to win one,” absolutely applies to the 38-year-old (soon to be 39, the day after Miami) after the 2010 heartbreak and disappointment in the 2014 Championship 4. Hamlin has grown up quite a bit and perhaps learned to relax a little more over the past decade, going from locking himself in his hotel room and shutting off his phone during that 2010 weekend to staying up until 1 a.m. playing $100 games of tennis with pal Kyle Larson on Saturday night ahead of one of the biggest races – and eventual wins – of his life Sunday. The pressure won’t get to him, because he’s clearly not feeling it. “I think over the years, we're almost 10 years later, I'm just more content with what I've accomplished in the series. I don't need validation of a championship,” Hamlin said. “I think that the outside world feels like I need that to validate my status, whatever it is. But doesn't change who I am. Doesn't change how I treat people. If I don't win this year, I'm going to work just as hard for 2020. “There are many, many more opportunities ahead of me. This is not my last opportunity to win a championship. Especially with the relationship that I've built with Chris, I see this going a long way.” It may not be his last opportunity to win a championship, but it’s definitely his best yet.