Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin has raced over 569 NASCAR Cup Series races throughout his eighteen-year-long career. Moreover, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has always made it to the playoffs whenever he is competing for full-time in a season. But what about the trophy?
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He has none. Unfortunately, even after being one of the best drivers on the track, Denny Hamlin could not win a championship title in the past eighteen years. Being one of the most impressive rookies in the history of NASCAR, fans are eager to celebrate Hamlin’s victory that just doesn’t seem to arrive.
While talking about the recent playoff race at Phoenix on the NASCAR on NBC podcast, NASCAR driver Parker Kligerman talked about Denny Hamlin and something he observed about his body language. In his conversation about the attitude of the top 4 drivers during the 2022 finals, Kligerman revealed what he noticed about Denny Hamlin before he lost to Chase Elliott a few years ago.
He said; “When I saw Ross walk out and you know, I look for like their body language… I have seen … a couple of years ago, Denny (Hamlin) looks so stiff (laughs). I was like he is beat.”
Furthermore, he added; “I mean Denny was my pick to win the championship this year. It’s always his year till it’s not. If he doesn’t win one, he will go down right there where the Mark Martin and other race drivers who have never won a championship.”
How did the 2022 season look for Denny Hamlin?
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2022 has been a roller coaster ride for Denny Hamlin. For starters, he struggled through the first dozen of races and only registered a single victory at Richmond. Moreover, in April, he had to undergo mandatory sensitivity training because of his tweet directed at fellow driver Kyle Larson.
However, things soon began to look up with his second win at the Coca-Cola 600. But then, his Pocono victory was clouded by an L1 penalty imposed after a post-race inspection. As a result, Hamlin was disqualified from the race and stripped of his win.
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Furthermore, Hamlin made it to the Round of 8 in the playoffs. However, he was soon eliminated. Even after putting up a great race, Ross Chastain’s single slingshot move helped him get ahead of Hamlin. This unprecedented maneuver crushed all the championship hopes for Hamlin as he finished the season at the fifth position on the points table.