The Veteran’s Last Restart: A Bid for a Long-Awaited Championship
Denny Hamlin had the final restart of his life to win at Las Vegas and punch his ticket to the Championship 4 on Sunday. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and fellow Round of 8 driver, Chase Briscoe, was the one he had to pass to get it done. 2021 series champion Kyle Larson was also in contention to win. The win was the 60th of Hamlin’s career, which puts him in a tie for 10th place with 2014 champion Kevin Harvick on the all-time wins list. Now, Hamlin will have two races to prepare before the championship. He will be chasing something he has never held before: the championship trophy.
2025 marks the 20th season of 44-year-old Hamlin’s career. He has checked off everything on a Hall of Fame level to-to list, highlighted by his three Daytona 500 victories. The one thing he doesn’t have is that elusive first title. In 2006, Hamlin gave the NASCAR world a glimpse of the career he would pursue by winning two races, being named Rookie of the Year, and placing third in the final point standings. He became the first rookie ever to reach the NASCAR postseason, formerly the Chase for the Cup, now called the NASCAR Playoffs.
There have been a few years where Hamlin was just a few points or laps short of the crown. He was beaten out by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson by 39 points in 2010 for his career-best points finish of second. When NASCAR shifted to the Championship 4 playoff format, Hamlin made the inaugural final four in 2014 but finished third. Hamlin made it back to the Championship 4 from 2019 to 2021 but never finished higher than third in each.
This season marks the first time Hamlin has reached the finale in the Next Gen car. Team Penske has won all three titles with this car. Compared to years past, this season is similar to the ones where Hamlin fell just short in the end. He had eight wins in 2010, six in 2019, and seven in 2020. Through 33 races in 2025, Hamlin has six wins, 14 top fives, and 17 top 10s. There have been eight seasons in his career where he has had 20 or more top 10 finishes in a single year. If there was ever a year to get it done, it may be this one. Remember, it took Dale Earnhardt Sr. 20 years to win his lone Daytona 500.
