So What If a Driver Never Wins a Title?

1. Is the Denny Hamlin title talk overblown?

Look up and down the list of acclaimed NASCAR drivers and you’ll find plenty of drivers to have won numerous races. Beyond that, there are the seven-time champions like Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty, as well as multi-time champions such as Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.

But there’s also another group: drivers who have won lots of races but not a championship. As many races as the likes of Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, Carl Edwards and Harry Gant have won, a series title eluded each of them, sometimes in heartbreaking fashion.

Until he wins a title, Denny Hamlin is in that category.

And that’s not a failure.

For those keeping score at home, Hamlin has 54 wins in NASCAR’s top division. That includes multiple Daytona 500 and Southern 500 wins and a Coca-Cola 600 victory.

That does not make his career any less impressive, especially with a title format that rewards being just good enough to get to the postseason and catching fire over 10 races to end the season.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, if Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace had not been able to close out the title chase in 1988 and 1989. Would either of them be branded as a lesser driver? Absolutely not.

Make no mistake about it. Hamlin is as driven as ever to win a championship. Eventually, the law of averages will catch up and he will win a title.

But even if that never happens, it should not lessen what he has and continues to accomplish behind the wheel.

2. Is Chris Buescher declaring war on the playoff system?

Chris Buescher was good enough this year to be in the playoffs. But luck in the form of two unexpected winners, plus a matter of milliseconds at Kansas Speedway, robbed the No. 17 team of that distinction.

So what has the No. 17 team done in the face of that playoff disappointment?

Declared war on the system.

Don’t think for a second that it has not caused Buescher’s team to stew in the corner with resentment. That showed with Sunday’s (Sept. 15) charge past Shane van Gisbergen for the win at Watkins Glen International.

It’s a firm message that Buescher believes he and his team were playoff-worthy and that a salvo is being fired to remind everyone of that fact.

That point may not be done being made, by the way. Among the upcoming tracks in the playoffs? Bristol Motor Speedway, where he won in 2022, and…