Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of four stories examining why each driver could win the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Monday: Denny Hamlin
Tuesday: Kevin Harvick
Wednesday: Martin Truex Jr.
Thursday: Kyle Busch
– – –
Denny Hamlin will win the 2019 championship because …
This is a different Denny Hamlin.
Forget about the driver who walked right up to a championship in 2010, only to fall agonizingly short. We’ve seen the clips over and over (and over and over) since then. Of course that impacted Hamlin the next year and even the years after.
It would anyone.
But the Denny Hamlin who arrives in Miami this weekend isn’t the same guy he was nine years ago — none of us, after all, are the same person as we were almost a decade ago.
RELATED: Hamlin through the years
And sure, Hamlin will have all of the prerequisites to winning a championship. His team absolutely will bring a fast car. He has an excellent pit crew. He’s perhaps in the prime of his career at nearly 39 years old.
It’s the stuff that doesn’t show up in the stats, though, that makes Hamlin the favorite. His first-year crew chief Chris Gabehart has been a perfect fit for the confident driver. And make no mistake: Hamlin is a confident driver.
He has always had a bit of a swagger about him, but this year it’s just … different. Ask those closest to him or folks who see him every weekend in the garage.
This is a different Denny Hamlin.
On Sunday, he’ll be a champion.