Denny Hamlin on being 12th all-time in wins: My name ‘doesn’t really belong there’

With his 54th career win yesterday at Dover, Denny Hamlin has once again moved up the all-time wins list in the NASCAR Cup Series. Hamlin is now tied with Lee Petty for 12th on the wins list, just below Rusty Wallace at 55 wins.

So, how does Denny Hamlin see this new accolade? Well, he’s not too sure how he should take it. In fact, Hamlin doesn’t really feel like his name should be on the list. All of those other drivers ahead of him have at least one championship.

In his postrace press conference, Hamlin reflected on his 54 career wins. It sounds like it hasn’t set in yet, or perhaps he is having some kind of imposter syndrome as they call it.

“It doesn’t seem right,” Hamlin said. “If you put all the names on the list in the orders of the wins that they have, I don’t know, I see my name as just an outlier, one that sticks out like it doesn’t really belong there.

“I’ve been doing it a long time. You take for granted all the wins that you’ve had. All we think about is the ones that we didn’t win. I’m like, man, I feel like I should have 80 or 90 realistically. But everyone has those stories. It’s my personal goal, in my career I want to get to a number that puts me well inside that top 10 of race winners. I think that will speak for itself and the résumé.”

The names that are ahead of Denny Hamlin: Rusty Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, David Pearson, and Richard Petty.

Hamlin is the winningest driver without a Cup Series championship. But what is interesting is the fact he wants to be “well inside” the top 10 list. Harvick is 10th all-time with 60 wins. Then it’s Busch at 63. After that is Dale Earnhardt at 76 wins and then Cale Yarborough and Jimmie Johnson at 83.

It has taken Denny going on 18 years to amass 54 wins. At 43 years old, he shows no signs of slowing down, at least right now. If Hamlin averaged three wins per season, he would have to race another year or two to reach 60, if he doesn’t get there this season.

Then he has to try and win more races than Busch, who is younger, to catch him. Hamlin would need to average three wins a season for the next six to seven years in order to get to Earnhardt’s level. As for Yarborough and Johnson’s 83 – that would take another decade to reach.

Before it is all said and done, Denny Hamlin will have 60+ wins. It would be a feat of consistency and longevity to see him reach 70+ before he hangs it up. Right now, with Chris Gabehart as crew chief, Hamlin is riding a hot streak.

If Hamlin is able to secure himself a Cup Series championship, will he finally feel like he belongs among the list of greats?