When Denny Hamlin Competed for the 2015 Cup Series Championship Despite a Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament

To be at the top of their game, athletes need to be fighting fit. However, in some of the more extreme cases, a few athletes fight through their pain. A classic example is MotoGP, where there have been an infinite number of riders who raced while bearing an injury or two. As it turned out, NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin took a page out of their book back in the 2015 Cup Series season.

While playing a friendly game of basketball, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver tore his right anterior cruciate ligament. This took place ahead of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. So it was a bit stupid on his part to pick up an injury so close to the championship fight. Despite that, he still completed the remainder of the season, even winning at the Chicagoland Speedway.

A day after getting injured, he went to the hospital to get an MRI to confirm the diagnosis. Surprisingly, he was cleared to race, but was also advised to undergo surgery after the season.

Denny Hamlin has raced with an injury before

Five years earlier, Hamlin picked up a knee injury, again playing basketball, one would think that he should take a hint. On a surprising not, he elected against a surgery to repair his ACL. He did not regret the decision as he went on to win at the Martinsville Speedway.

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In the end though, he finally relented and went under the knife to repair the ACL. Since then, he has continued racing and has never missing a Cup Series start, all year. Later on, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver stormed to victory at the Texas Motor Speedway and snatched a then career-high eight races. Sadly, he just missed out on the Cup title to Hendrick Motorsports star Jimmie Johnson at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Other injuries included breaking his back in a 2013 crash with Joey Logano at the Auto Club Speedway. Luckily, it was not serious enough to warrant a surgery, though he missed four races. In 2014, he pulled out of the race at Auto Club, owing to a piece of metal in his eye. This just goes to show how tough athletes are and how motivated they are to win.

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