155 Facts About Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Denny Hamlin has won a total of 49 NASCAR Cup Series races, including the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022 and the Daytona 500 in 2016,2019, and 2020; he is the fourth person to win the race in back-to-back seasons, alongside Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Sterling Marlin.

Except for the 2013 season, in which a collision with Joey Logano damaged his lower back and kept him out for a large part of the early season, Denny Hamlin has competed in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in every season he has competed full-time, including his rookie season in 2006 when he finished third in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings, capping off one of the most impressive rookie campaigns in modern NASCAR history.

Denny Hamlin was born in Tampa, Florida and lived in Chesterfield, Virginia for most of his childhood.

Denny Hamlin began his racing career in 1988, at age 7, racing go-karts.

Denny Hamlin then progressed to the Grand Stock division in 1998 and moved on to Late Model Stock Cars in 2000.

In 2004, while competing full-time in Late Model Stock Cars, Denny Hamlin was signed to a driver development contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.

In 2004, Denny Hamlin competed in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races with EJP Racing and had a tenth-place finish in his NASCAR debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Denny Hamlin's final start of the year came at Darlington Raceway when he made his Busch Series debut.

Denny Hamlin started twenty-seventh but finished eighth in the No 18 Joe Gibbs Driven Performance Oil Chevrolet.

Denny Hamlin ran the full season in 2005 after he replaced Mike Bliss in the No 20 Rockwell Automation-sponsored Chevrolet in the Busch Series.

Denny Hamlin ended up finishing fifth in the final championship points standings as a rookie in that series, with 11 Top 10's and earnings of $1,064,110.

Denny Hamlin ran his first NASCAR Cup Series races in 2005, making his Cup debut at Kansas Speedway as the driver of the No 11 FedEx-sponsored Chevrolet for the 2006 season, after Jason Leffler was released, and made seven starts in the Cup series in 2005.

Denny Hamlin finished the Cup season with three Top 10 finishes in those seven starts and one pole at Phoenix International Raceway.

In 2006, Denny Hamlin ran his first full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and during the year he drove in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series full-time.

Denny Hamlin became the first Rookie of the Year candidate to take home the Shootout victory.

Denny Hamlin achieved his first career Busch Series victory at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

On June 11,2006, Denny Hamlin scored his first career Cup Series win at the Pocono 500, where he won his second career pole.

Denny Hamlin achieved his second career win on July 23,2006, in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway becoming only the 2nd rookie in Nextel Cup history to sweep both races at a track during the same season, both from the pole position.

Denny Hamlin thus became the first-ever rookie to make the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, which he finished third in points.

Denny Hamlin started the 2007 Cup season by finishing 28th in the Daytona 500.

Denny Hamlin won his third career Cup race at the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Denny Hamlin clinched a spot in the Chase for the Cup and was seeded sixth, 50 points behind the leader, but finished 12th overall in the final standings.

Denny Hamlin finished 1st at Milwaukee, but Aric Almirola started the car and ran 60 laps before turning it over to Denny Hamlin.

In 2008, Denny Hamlin had a near-identical season as before, but moved up to eighth in points, and won early in the season at Martinsville Speedway.

Denny Hamlin led 381 out of 410 laps in the 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400, the most dominant effort of a driver since 2000, but cut a tire and finished 24th.

Denny Hamlin continued driving the No 11 car in Sprint Cup in 2009, as well as sharing the No 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series.

Denny Hamlin won his fifth Cup career race at Pocono Raceway on August 3,2009.

Denny Hamlin dominated the race at Richmond International Raceway and finally won at his home track.

On October 25,2009, Denny Hamlin held off Jimmie Johnson to win the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Denny Hamlin went on to win the Ford 400 at the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, capping off his 2009 season 5th in the overall standings with 4 wins, 15 top 5s, and 20 top 10s.

Denny Hamlin took the lead after starting the race in the 38th position and he led a total of 70 laps to capture his 4th win of the 2009 season.

On January 22,2010, Denny Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing basketball.

Denny Hamlin announced on March 27,2010, to have surgery on his left knee the following Monday.

On March 29,2010, Denny Hamlin won the rain-postponed race at Martinsville Speedway in wild fashion.

Denny Hamlin beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, and Jeff Gordon to the finish line.

Two days later, Denny Hamlin had knee surgery to repair the torn ligament in his left knee.

Denny Hamlin was later able to pass Jeff Burton on the outside and hold off Jimmie Johnson to get his 10th career win and his second win in three races.

Less than three weeks later on May 8, Denny Hamlin visited victory lane for the third time in 2010 at Darlington Raceway.

Denny Hamlin swept the weekend by winning both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series events.

Denny Hamlin became the first driver to do so at Darlington since Mark Martin in 1993.

Denny Hamlin won the Nationwide Series Royal Purple 200 presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts driving the No 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday night.

Denny Hamlin started on the pole and led the most laps to win the race.

Denny Hamlin started 8th in Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 and went on to lead 108 laps and take the checkered flag.

Later in the 2010 season, Denny Hamlin finished 43rd in the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin led a lap and finished in 4th, one spot behind points leader Jimmie Johnson, and lost another 5 points.

Denny Hamlin won the pole and led the first 11 laps but encountered tire issues; he dropped back to 17th and finally worked himself up consistently to 5th until lap 471 with 29 laps to go, he took the lead from Kevin Harvick and held off a hard-charging Mark Martin to lead the final 29 laps and take his 3rd straight victory at Martinsville and his 4th at the historic track.

Denny Hamlin closed the lead to 6 points behind points leader and 5th-place finisher, Jimmie Johnson.

Denny Hamlin started 17th, but fell back and lost the draft.

Denny Hamlin went a lap down, but when a caution came out, he got the Lucky Dog and was back on the lead lap.

Denny Hamlin then worked his way up to a 9th-place finish, two spots behind points leader Jimmie Johnson.

Denny Hamlin started 14th but got up to the front right away and was leading for almost the whole race.

In 2011 Denny Hamlin almost won the Budweiser Shootout, but the victory was taken away from him by Kurt Busch because, at the last second, Denny Hamlin crossed the yellow line, on turn four to the finish line, in his attempt to pass Ryan Newman.

Denny Hamlin struggled in the first 8 races where his only top 10 was a seventh at Las Vegas.

However, when the series got to Richmond, Denny Hamlin turned on the heat by winning both his charity event and the Nationwide race but would finish 2nd to teammate Kyle Busch.

Denny Hamlin would go on to finish outside of the top 10 once at Dover finishing in the top 20 and rebounded with finishes of 10th and 3rd at Charlotte and Kansas respectively.

Denny Hamlin showed signs of improvement at the very start of the race, Hamlin quickly slid back in the field and was in the 10th to 15th place range until beginning to improve with about 70 laps to go, deeming the adjustment on his loose racecar "a magic adjustment" On lap 158, with 42 laps to go, a penalty caused by an accident between Juan Pablo Montoya and Andy Lally allowed Hamlin to move to the front of the field by short pitting.

Denny Hamlin scored his first win of the year in the second event on the schedule, at Phoenix International Raceway.

At the Crown Royal Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard, Denny Hamlin scored his eleventh pole.

Denny Hamlin started the season on a low note, crashing his cars in both the Sprint Unlimited and the Budweiser Duel.

Denny Hamlin improved the following week, with a third-place finish at Phoenix, then a 15th-place finish at Las Vegas.

Denny Hamlin led the most laps at Bristol but ran out of gas.

The controversy unfolded after Denny Hamlin spun his ex-teammate Joey Logano battling for position.

Denny Hamlin was airlifted to the hospital as a precaution.

Denny Hamlin made his return at Talladega in the Aaron's 499 and told reporters that since he was not ready to run a full race, he would switch with Brian Vickers during the first caution and pit stop by a special exit on the roof attached to the car.

Under NASCAR rules, since Denny Hamlin started the race, he would receive credit for any results.

At Darlington, Denny Hamlin drove his first full race since his injury.

At Charlotte, for the Coca-Cola 600, Denny Hamlin clinched a pole position with a record speed of 195.624 miles per hour, breaking the previous speed of 193.708 miles per hour set by Greg Biffle.

At Dover, Denny Hamlin started on the pole for the second week in a row.

Denny Hamlin led 41 laps before he cut a tire on lap 378 and hit the wall, causing him to finish 34th.

At Pocono, Denny Hamlin started in 17th and finished in 8th place.

At Michigan, Sonoma, and Kentucky, Denny Hamlin did not fare well.

Denny Hamlin only got up to 25th in the points standings and 150 points behind 20th place.

At Daytona, Denny Hamlin started 24th and led 20 laps, before he got into a wreck off of turn 4 with Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin Truex Jr.

Denny Hamlin stayed on the track, a lap down, and got the free pass with the next caution.

Denny Hamlin wrecked at Pocono on Lap 15 after losing control of his car in the third turn and solidified his chances of missing the Chase for the first time in his career.

At Richmond, Denny Hamlin got an apology text from Joey Logano for their Auto Club incident, but Hamlin didn't return Logano's text message.

Denny Hamlin started the 2014 season strong by winning the pole and leading all three segments of the Sprint Unlimited, eventually winning the race.

Denny Hamlin then went on to win the second of the Budweiser Duels.

At Auto Club, Denny Hamlin came down with a sinus infection that affected his vision just hours before the race began.

At Talladega, Denny Hamlin won the race as the caution flag waved during the last lap.

At Bristol, Denny Hamlin appeared to have a perfect car to win but after leading many laps Denny Hamlin wrecked after contact from Kevin Harvick while racing for the lead.

Denny Hamlin replied by angrily throwing his HANS device at Harvick's car during a caution period.

Harvick later apologized for causing the crash via Twitter while Denny Hamlin said his acceptance of Harvick's apology would only depend on how to clean Harvick would compete with him in the future.

Denny Hamlin's results earned him a spot within the final four title contenders heading to the final round, and he was leading the race and the title with twenty laps to go, but a caution came out and Darian Grubb, his crew chief, decided to opt-out of stopping for fresh tires and fuel, which would turn out to be a costly decision.

Denny Hamlin finished 7th in the race, and 3rd in the championship.

Denny Hamlin started the season by having to go to the rear in the Budweiser Duels after being penalized during Daytona 500 qualifying.

Denny Hamlin finished 4th and had one of the best cars of Speedweeks.

However, at Atlanta, Denny Hamlin finished 38th after being involved in a wreck with 42 laps to go.

However, at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin did not run well all day leading to a 24th-place finish.

At California, Denny Hamlin had one of the best cars of the race, leading 56 laps, second to Kurt Busch's 61 laps.

At Martinsville Speedway, Denny Hamlin stayed up in the top ten nearly all race long.

Denny Hamlin edged Keselowski at the stripe by 0.3 seconds, for his 5th Martinsville victory, leading 91 laps in total.

Denny Hamlin, who had feuded with Keselowski during the 2014 Bank of America 500, commended Keselowski for not wrecking him to win the race.

At the spring Bristol race, Denny Hamlin was replaced by Erik Jones after 22 laps due to suffering from neck spasms.

Denny Hamlin ran both the Cup and Xfinity races during the Coca-Cola 600 weekend, winning in the latter and finishing fourth in the main Cup date.

Denny Hamlin led Tony Stewart late in the Sonoma race before going wide entering the final corner, causing him to briefly withdraw as he braced for contact with Stewart before losing the win; amid accusations that he had intentionally let Stewart win in his final season, Hamlin clarified he had misjudged the corner entry.

Denny Hamlin had a difficult start to the 2017 season, in which there were many changes to how the races are run.

Denny Hamlin picked up an 8th-place finish in Stage 1 of the Daytona 500 but got caught up in one of several 'Big Ones' at the end of Stage 2, caused by a tire blowout on the No 18 Toyota Camry of Kyle Busch, and would finish the race in 17th.

Denny Hamlin's Toyota began to improve dramatically after a mediocre Texas race and, through combining the new-found speed of his JGR car and his limitless talent on short tracks, earned two 8th-place finishes in stages 1 and 2 at Bristol and led a dozen or so laps of the race late on, but was passed by Jimmie Johnson in the final stage and subsequently fell back to finish 10th.

Denny Hamlin led 50 laps at his home track at Richmond, superbly jumping Brad Keselowski from 2nd place at the 6th restart, and would earn a 3rd-place finish in the race, along with stage points from both stages.

Denny Hamlin used pit strategy to take his first stage win of the year in stage 2, and led more laps than any other driver, but this was not enough to get his first win, as he fell back late in the race.

Denny Hamlin took his second stage win of the year in Stage 3 of the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and led the last 10 laps of that stage.

However, Denny Hamlin restarted poorly from the front and fell back to 10th on the first lap of the final stage.

Denny Hamlin would recover and work his way through the field, finishing 5th and earning valuable points in the standings.

Denny Hamlin earned a respectable 8th-place finish at a wreck-filled Dover despite getting busted for an uncontrolled tire in Stage 1 and subsequently ran well at Pocono, finishing 12th after falling back late.

At Michigan, Denny Hamlin finished 4th after a tense battle with Kyle Larson on the final restart.

Denny Hamlin then returned to the road course at Sonoma, the scene of his duel with Tony Stewart in 2016 where he was passed on the last corner of the last lap.

Denny Hamlin led 12 laps during Stage 2 and remained in the top 2 throughout most of the race but he lost grip in his tires towards the end, losing 2nd to Clint Bowyer with 6 laps to go and then 3rd to Brad Keselowski on the final lap, just before the caution waved to end the race after Kasey Kahne crashed on the front straight.

Denny Hamlin finished 4th, adding to his 5th and 4th places in the two stages earlier in the race.

At Daytona the following week, Denny Hamlin had a very quick car, leading 16 laps during Stage 2 and finishing a very close 2nd to teammate Matt Kenseth in that stage.

Denny Hamlin got caught up in a 3-car incident with 3 laps to go while running 7th.

Denny Hamlin tried to get moving again before the car erupted into flames, ending his evening.

The next race in Kentucky brought another consistent top-5 weekend, finishing 4th and 5th in the stages and 4th overall, but it was the following week that Denny Hamlin finally broke through.

Denny Hamlin came from 8th on the grid - finishing every stage in the top 10 to then lead 52 laps on his way to victory in New Hampshire.

However, Denny Hamlin got back into the top 5 yet again this season at the Overton's 400 in Pocono.

Denny Hamlin continued adding to his impressive amount of top-5 finishes for 2017 the following week, finishing 4th at Watkins Glen, the scene of the first road course victory of his career the year before.

Denny Hamlin did not as Hamlin finished the race in 16th due to a bold strategy by the team to stay out on old tires until a caution flew, which did not happen as planned; he pitted just 11 laps from the end, and the caution he needed flew 2 laps later.

Denny Hamlin earned himself a 3rd-place finish at the Night Race at Bristol after a very consistent run.

Denny Hamlin outdueled Joey Logano in the Xfinity race on Saturday, using the crossover move on the last corner to cut underneath him and win.

Denny Hamlin recovered to finish 5th and later apologized to the 2017 regular-season champion.

At Dover, Denny Hamlin was able to collect stage points to clinch a spot for the Round of 12 but retired from the race with less than 30 to go due to a broken axle.

Denny Hamlin ran up front the entire race, earning useful stage points and eventually a 4th-place finish, which placed him 5th in the standings, 13 points above the cutoff line going into Talladega.

Denny Hamlin started the round of 8 in a controversial Martinsville race, where at 3 laps to go, he bumped Chase Elliott on one of the turns, causing Elliott to spin out.

Denny Hamlin started the 2018 season with a third-place finish at the 2018 Daytona 500.

Denny Hamlin was eliminated in the Round of 16 after finishing out of the top-10 at Las Vegas, Richmond, and the Charlotte Roval.

Denny Hamlin started the 2019 season by breaking a 47-race winless streak with his second Daytona 500 win, first Cup Series win for new crew chief Chris Gabehart, along with dedicating the victory to the late JD Gibbs.

Denny Hamlin scored his second win of the season at Texas.

At the spring Dover race, Denny Hamlin was rushed to the infield care center for carbon monoxide poisoning after an accident knocked out his car's right rear crush panel and allowed fumes inside the cabin.

At Martinsville, Denny Hamlin collided with Logano on turn four, squeezing Logano into the outside wall and causing him to lose a tire and spin out two laps later.

On November 1, Denny Hamlin revealed that he has a torn labrum in his left shoulder and would have it surgically repaired after the 2019 season.

At Homestead Denny Hamlin was a non-factor for the victory and Championship despite starting from the pole as he led only 2 laps, made an unscheduled pit stop to fix overheating issues after gambling with extra nose tape, and only recovered from a lap down to finish the race in 10th-place.

Denny Hamlin finished the season fourth in points in his first season with Gabehart as crew chief, a 7-spot improvement over the previous season along with six victories after being winless the year prior.

At the Xfinity level, Denny Hamlin won the Darlington race but was disqualified after his car failed to meet height requirements during post-race inspection.

Denny Hamlin won his third Daytona 500 in 2020 when he beat Ryan Blaney to the finish in overtime by 0.014 seconds, the second-closest finish in the race's history behind Denny Hamlin's 2016 win.

Denny Hamlin dominated in wins at Darlington, Homestead, Pocono, and Kansas.

Allmendinger won the race, this allowed Denny Hamlin to clinch the 16th and final Playoff spot even if he were to remain winless.

On September 5,2021, Denny Hamlin won the Southern 500 at Darlington for the 3rd time in his career and advanced to the Round of 12 in the Playoffs.

Three weeks later, Denny Hamlin won his second race of the season at Las Vegas, his first victory at the track, and advanced to the Round of 8 as a result.

Bowman would win the race with Denny Hamlin finishing 24th but able to advance to the Championship 4.

Denny Hamlin made the Championship 4 for the third year in a row and finished 3rd in the final standings, with 2 wins, 19 top fives, 25 top tens, 1,502 laps led, an average finish of 8.4, and zero DNF's.

Denny Hamlin started the 2022 season with a 37th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500.

Fifteen laps after the incident, Denny Hamlin blocked Chastain by slowing down and getting in his way.

Denny Hamlin won at Pocono, but was disqualified and the No 11 team was served an L1 penalty after a post-race inspection revealed an alteration to the car's front fascia.

Denny Hamlin became the first NASCAR Cup Series winner to be disqualified since 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis was stripped of his win at Wilson Speedway for an oversized fuel tank.

Denny Hamlin was eliminated following the Round of 8 after Ross Chastain overtook him for fourth-place at Martinsville with an unprecedented maneuver by sliding on the outside wall to slingshot past Denny Hamlin for the final Championship 4 spot of the season, marking the first time that he missed the penultimate round since 2018.

Denny Hamlin finished the season fifth in the points standings.

Denny Hamlin began the 2023 season with a 17th place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500.

Denny Hamlin won the Spring race at Kansas after a tense battle with Kyle Larson, who got loose and hit the outside wall on the final lap allowing Denny Hamlin to pass him for the win, winning the 400th career race for Joe Gibbs Racing in the process.

In 2016, Denny Hamlin was a Fox NASCAR guest analyst for the Xfinity Series race at Talladega.

Denny Hamlin is featured as one of eight playable drivers on the EA Sports NASCAR Racing arcade game, the only rookie to be featured in the game.

In 2021, Denny Hamlin was featured in Post Malone's new music video for his song "Motley Crew", along with driver Bubba Wallace.

In 2022, Denny Hamlin was on the front cover of Nascar Rivals along with his car.

Denny Hamlin is the youngest son of Dennis Denny Hamlin and Mary Lou Clark.

Denny Hamlin was born in Tampa, Florida, at what is St Joseph's Women's Hospital, and moved to Virginia when he was two years old.