After a thrilling win on May 31 at Nashville Superspeedway, Denny Hamlin honored Kyle Busch.
Hamlin celebrated by performing Busch’s signature bow and then reflected on the late NASCAR legend during the post-race press conference.
“He raised my game,” Hamlin said. “Without him as a teammate, there’s no way I win the races I win, especially the ones like today.”
The Cracker Barrel 400 was Hamlin’s first victory since Busch died at 41 years old on May 21. One more triumph would give Hamlin 63 for his career and tie him with Busch for ninth on the Cup Series’ all-time leaderboard.
“I thought about it and certainly aspired to eventually get there,” Hamlin said. “I knew my career was going to end before his career was going to end, and we didn’t know what was going to happen, but I had kind of resigned to the fact that I thought we weren’t going to overtake Kyle, and we still might not. We don’t know if this is the last one.
“It just shows how good he was for so long.”
At age 45, Hamlin is the oldest full-time racer in the Cup Series. He sits 25 wins ahead of the next closest active driver, Joey Logano, who owns 37 checkered flags. Brad Keselowski has 36.
But considering their ages and recent trends — Logano is 36 with no wins since May 2025, and Keselowski is 42 and winless since May 2024 — they’ll need serious hot streaks over the next decade to catch him.
Kyle Larson might be a more realistic challenger. At 33 years old, the reigning series champion holds 32 lifetime victories. Yet, none of those have come since May 2025 as well.
Either way, Busch and Hamlin will remain in the top 10 for a long time.
If Hamlin does pass Busch, his next longshot target would be another icon — Dale Earnhardt at 76.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Where is Denny Hamlin on NASCAR career wins list? Close to Kyle Busch
Reporting by Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
