Denny Hamlin – The Most Interesting Man In NASCAR?

The late great Dale Earnhardt once noted: “Cheer you, boo you, it doesn’t matter as long as they’re making noise.” And there can be no question Denny Hamlin is a driver who engenders noise. At Pocono Raceway a couple weeks back, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran certainly heard plenty of noise from the long grandstand as he celebrated what, in the end, turned out not to be race win number 49.

Longtime NASCAR reporter Marty Snider commented on the “fan feedback” a couple times, ending the finish-line interview by asking what Hamlin’s reaction was to the boos. Hamlin’s face split into a wry grin as he replied: “I hear more cheers than boos.”

And whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny Denny Hamlin is a driver who makes fans sit up and take notice. In fact, I’d argue he’s the most interesting man in NASCAR.

This past Sunday (July 31), Hamlin notched a big career milestone with Cup start number 600, a streak that runs all the way back to Oct. 9, 2005 at Kansas Speedway. For the record, Hamlin finished 32nd that day in a field of 43, with the race itself won by the irrepressible Mark Martin. Hamlin would go on to notch one seventh-place and two eighth-place finishes in the next six races – enough to vault him into a full-time top echelon ride he still shows no signs of relinquishing the better part of two decades later.

On the numbers alone, Hamlin’s driving resume is stellar – a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer. Forty-eight (49*?) wins, with victories on every type of racetrack; good for 17th on the all-time list, including three wins in the Great American Race (2016, 2019, 2020), another three in the Southern 500 (2010, 2017, 2021) and just this year, a long-awaited Coke 600 victory. Hamlin has 36 poles, 201 top fives, 310 top 10s and has paced the field for a tick over 13,000 laps.

Now as any good Hamlin hater will gleefully remind you — vociferously on that bastion of respect and kindness that is Twitter — he still has a big fat goose egg in the championship column. Hamlin has gone into the final race of the season six times with a shot at the big prize (his rookie year of 2006, 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020 and 2021) but the title has remained elusive. And you can pretty much guarantee any serious fan of NASCAR has an opinion, one way or the other, on this particular topic.

And while I’m on the subject of opinions, Hamlin certainly has plenty of those. Take a scroll through his Twitter feed if you’re in any…