There was a time when I kinda liked Denny Hamlin. I mean, he was never someone I’d put in my Top 10 of all-time favourite drivers but there was something about him that I liked. I remember watching him follow Dale Earnhardt Jr through the final turns in the 2014 Daytona 500 and thinking “Hamlin’s going to win one of these things one of these days.” Sure enough, he won…well, not just one, not just two but (to date) three Daytona 500s. Even back then, I kinda wanted to see him get a championship.
But somewhere along the line, I soured on Denny Hamlin. It wasn’t one thing, mind you. It was a combination of his feud with Ross Chastain, his bashing of Chase Elliott and his fanbase, his encumbered wins in Xfinity, his “I beat your favourite driver” in a desire to be a heel in a sport that doesn’t need any, his seeming desire to control NASCAR’s rules via his podcast, and to be perfectly honest, the fact he drives for Joe Gibbs Racing does him no favours.
If you scroll down far enough, you’ll see that when I made my predictions for how the Cup playoffs would play out, I had Denny pegged as the eventual winner. But part of me was like “Aw man…I hope I’m wrong on this!”
However, after his win this past weekend at Las Vegas, we saw a bit of a different side of Denny Hamlin. He was emotional. He was subdued. He even poked a little fun at his “feud” with the fans by saying he appreciated them.
With the win, it marked his 60th career Cup win, tying him with Kevin Harvick for 10th all-time. No matter what you think of Hamlin, his team or his mouth, you have to respect someone who has put together the career that he has. His resume has to be considered one of the most impressive in the sport.
So maybe it’s time he added that Cup championship to that resume. You have to know that it’d be one of the most emotional scenes in NASCAR history.
But all of that, the resume, the emotion, that’s probably only good enough for me to say “Well, if Chase Elliott or Joey Logano can’t win, then Hamlin winning isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
But last week I started hearing a few things about Hamlin’s father being ill, and that made me decide that, while I’ll still cheer for Chase for my Dad and for Joey for my Mom, there’s a large part of me that wants to see Hamlin win this championship…for his Dad.
If any of you know me personally, you’re aware that I lost my Dad, who was a huge NASCAR fan, about a year and a half ago. When I first found out my Dad had dementia, I was devastated because I knew he’d never get the chance to see me achieve what I still hope someday to achieve.
I don’t know all the details of his father’s illness, but hopefully there is still an opportunity for Denny to win that championship while his father can still be around to witness it, in some form or another.
And so, while I’d still partially be pulling for Elliott or Logano, on behalf of my own parents, I am perfectly fine – more than fine – if 2025 is the year that Denny Hamlin finally wins the championship that has seemed to be his destiny.
johnmilner.ca 