Entering his 20th consecutive season as a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series division, Denny Hamlin will kickstart a new year of racing with a unique milestone start of his own up for grabs. If Hamlin earns a starting spot for this weekend’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota Camry XSE entry will stretch his appearance in the pre-season exhibition event to 20 consecutive seasons.
A native of Chesterfield, Virginia, Hamlin’s first appearance in the Clash was in 2006 when the event occurred at Daytona International Speedway. By then, he had earned a starting spot for the event by virtue of notching his first Cup Series career pole at Phoenix Raceway in November 2005 and since the event was featuring both pole winners from a previous season and former Clash winners. Starting in 15th place during his first Clash attempt, Hamlin led 16 of 72 laps and outdueled on-track challenges from teammate Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jimmie Johnson during a two-lap shootout to win his first unofficial Cup Series career event. As a result, Hamlin became the first rookie candidate to win the Clash overall. The Clash victory would be the first of three Cup victories for Hamlin throughout the 2006 season as he proceeded to win both Pocono Raceway events, become the first rookie candidate to make the Playoffs, and finish in third place in the final driver’s standings.
Over his next four Clash starts, Hamlin would finish no higher than fifth on the track, which occurred in 2010, and was involved in two multi-car wrecks on the final lap, the latter of which occurred during the 2007 and 2009 seasons. During his sixth start in the Clash in 2011, he was bump-drafting veteran Ryan Newman on the final lap when he made his move beneath Newman, entering the tri-oval and with the finish line within sight. Instead of making contact with Newman, Hamlin dipped his No. 11 JGR Toyota entry below the double yellow lines, which was out of bounds, to overtake Newman and edge Kurt Busch at the finish line by a narrow margin. As a result, Hamlin was demoted back to 12th place, the final competitor scored a lap down for his move, while Busch was awarded the victory.
After finishing no higher than fifth during his next two Clash starts between the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Hamlin made a triumphant return to Victory Lane in the event in 2014. During the event, he was awarded the pole position for the event for the first time in his career. He would then lead a race-high 27 of 75-scheduled laps and execute a three-wide pass on teammate Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski with two laps remaining to assume the lead for the final time, which routed him to the victory. As a result, Hamlin, who would proceed to win one of two Daytona Duel events and finish in second place behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 56th running of the Daytona 500, became the ninth competitor to win the Clash multiple times.
Two years after winning his second Clash in 2014, Hamlin earned his third victory in the event in 2016. During the event, he started 15th and opted to race towards the rear of the field in the early stages until he sustained right-side door damage to his No. 11 JGR Toyota after Ricky Stenhouse Jr., whom Hamlin was racing with at the rear of the field, got sideways and clipped Hamlin entering Turn 2 amid an early incident. Nonetheless, Hamlin would dodge a series of on-track incidents and lead a race-high 39 of 79 laps. Then, after muscling ahead of Joey Logano with drafting help from Paul Menard during an overtime shootout and despite being low on fuel, Hamlin would retain the lead on the final lap when a multi-car wreck concluded the event under caution and awarded him his third exhibition victory. As a result, the Virginian joined Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, and Kevin Harvick as competitors to win the Clash three times. Ironically, Hamlin’s third Clash victory occurred in his first Cup event paired with new full-time crew chief Mike Wheeler calling the shots. One week later, the duo would win the 58th running of the Daytona 500 after Hamlin edged Martin Truex Jr. by 0.010 seconds for his first Great American Race victory.
Over his next seven starts in the Clash (2017-23), Hamlin would finish no higher than sixth three times. By then, the event had transitioned to Daytona International Speedway’s road-course venue in 2021 before being relocated to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022. Then, during the Coliseum’s third and final time hosting the Clash in 2024, Hamlin, who started in the pole position and led 58 of 151 laps, overtook teammate Ty Gibbs for the lead and for the final time with 10 laps remaining. After Gibbs spun with two laps remaining, Hamlin would proceed to fend off Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney during an overtime shootout to win the Clash for a fourth time in his career. As a result, Hamlin recorded the eighth Clash victory for the Toyota nameplate and the 12th overall for JGR, which makes the organization the current winningest team in the Clash.
Through 19 previous appearances in the Clash, Hamlin has notched four victories, six top-five results, 11 top-10 results, 259 laps led, and an average-finishing result of 9.4. Due to finishing in eighth place in the 2024 driver’s standings, he will have to earn a starting spot for the 2025 Clash either through one of four Heat qualifying races scheduled for February 1 or through the 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier Race that will occur on February 2 before the main event.
As previously mentioned, Hamlin would extend his appearance in the Clash to 20 consecutive seasons if he earns a starting spot for this year’s event. Currently, he is tied with Kevin Harvick, Ken Schrader, and Rusty Wallace for having the fourth-most Clash starts all-time at 19. A 2025 berth would not only enable him to claim sole possession of fourth place on the Clash’s all-time starts list, but it would also leave him two starts shy of tying four-time champion Jeff Gordon on two categories: one for the third-most starts in the Clash and a second for the most consecutive Clash starts at 22. The latter two marks will have to wait until the 2027 season if Hamlin maintains his streak over the next two seasons, starting with the 2025 campaign.
Currently, Hamlin also holds the most Clash victories among active competitors and the second-most overall at four. He trails the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt on the Clash’s all-time wins list as the latter has six while Hamlin attempts to win the event for a fifth time in 2025.
The 2025 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is scheduled to occur on Sunday, February 2, with a starting broadcast time at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
