Denny Hamlin will officially commence his 20th consecutive season as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor this upcoming Sunday, February 16, at Daytona International Speedway with an opportunity to achieve a fourth triumph in the Great American Race: the Daytona 500. Prior to pursuing another victory, he will first check off a milestone start of his own for the event. By taking the green flag in this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota Camry XSE entry will make his 20th consecutive start in NASCAR’s season-opening event.
A native of Chesterfield, Virginia, Hamlin made his first Daytona 500 career start in 2006, the year in which he competed as a full-time Cup Series competitor for the first time. Driving the No. 11 Chevrolet entry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), he started 17th and finished 30th after he was involved in a three-car incident with four laps remaining. He would then finish 28th during his second Daytona 500 start in 2007 after he was involved in a five-car accident with 27 laps remaining.
When JGR switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota for the 2008 Cup Series season, Hamlin achieved a Daytona Duel victory that enabled him to line up in fourth place for the 50th Daytona 500. Despite leading 32 laps, he sustained damage to his No. 11 Toyota amid two late-race incidents and fell back to 17th place. The following season, he led 85 of 152-shortened laps and was in contention for the victory until he was involved in a 10-car backstretch pileup with 77 laps remaining.
After finishing 17th and 21st during his next two Daytona 500 starts in 2010 and 2011, Hamlin notched his first top-five result in the Great American Race by finishing in fourth place in 2012. The result occurred after he had led a race-high 57 laps. Etching a 14th-place run in 2013, Hamlin nearly pulled off a historic Daytona Speedweeks triple sweep as he commenced the festivities by winning the Clash exhibition event and the second Duel event. While trying to add a first Daytona 500 victory to complete the sweep, he settled in second place behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. despite leading 16 of 200-scheduled laps.
Then after finishing in fourth place during the 2015 Daytona 500, Hamlin notched his first victory in his 11th attempt at the Great American Race in 2016. During the event, Hamlin, who was racing in a draft with his JGR teammates Matt Keneth, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards along with Toyota teammate Martin Truex Jr., was racing in fourth place when he broke away from the draft and transitioned to the outside lane to receive a strong drafting help from Kevin Harvick. The draft enabled Hamlin to muscle towards the front, starting from the backstretch to Turn 3 as he gained a run on the leader Kenseth. When Kenseth tried to block Hamlin, the latter pulled a crossover move beneath the former and got him loose, which caused Kenseth to lose the draft as Hamlin was then left to duel with Truex for both the lead and victory. Entering the tri-oval, Hamlin managed to side-draft Truex to muscle ahead and beat him by 0.010 seconds. With the victory, Hamlin, who led a race-high 95 of 200-scheduled laps, became the 37th competitor to win the Great American Race as he delivered the first 500 victory for JGR since Dale Jarrett made the previous accomplishment in 1995. As an added bonus, the Virginian achieved the first 500 victory for the Toyota nameplate and he won in his first event with his new full-time crew chief Mike Wheeler. To date, Hamlin’s margin of victory over Truex remains the closest-recorded finish in the history of the Daytona 500.
Three years later, Hamlin fended off teammate Kyle Busch and Joey Logano amid an overtime shootout to score his second Daytona 500 career victory in an event where he led 30 of 207 over-scheduled laps. As a result, Hamlin, who led a historic 1-2-3 finish for JGR with teammate Erik Jones finishing third, became the 12th competitor overall to achieve multiple victories in the Great American Race as he etched the third 500 victory for JGR and the second for Toyota. Ironically, Hamlin’s victory occurred in an event where he snapped a 47-race winless drought after going winless for the first time in 2018 and in his first event with his new full-time crew chief Chris Gabehart. Amid the celebrations, Hamlin dedicated the victory to J.D. Gibbs, co-owner of JGR, who died a month earlier due to complications amid a degenerative neurological disease battle.
Another year later, Hamlin, who led a race-high 79 laps and lost the lead to Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney on the final lap amid an overtime shootout, was racing in third place entering the tri-oval when Blaney bumped and sent Newman for a harrowing rollover accident. After barely dodging Newman’s car, Hamlin then managed to squeeze ahead of Blaney and edged him by a nose to win his second consecutive Daytona 500 event and third overall. With the victory, Hamlin became the sixth competitor overall to reach three victories in the Great American Race and he joined Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Sterling Marlin as the only competitors to do so in back-to-back seasons. Overall, Hamlin’s margin of victory over Blaney was 0.014 seconds, which marks the second-closest finish in the history of the Daytona 500.
Compared to his two previous seasons, Hamlin fell short in becoming the first competitor to win three consecutive Daytona 500 events in 2021 despite settling in fifth place and leading a race-high 98 laps. Since then, his best result in the 500 over his latest three starts (2022-24) is 17th, which occurred in 2023 despite the driver being involved in a final-lap multi-car pileup.
Through 19 previous starts in the Daytona 500, Hamlin has achieved three victories, eight top-five results, 490 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.9. Currently, he holds the most Daytona 500 victories among active competitors entered for this year’s 67th running of the Great American Race with three. A fourth victory in 2025 would tie him with the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for the second-most 500 victories and leave him three shy of Richard Petty’s record number of 500 victories at seven. In addition, Hamlin would tie Joe Gibbs Racing with Wood Brothers Racing for the second-most victories in the Great American Race at five and he would record the fourth victory of the event for the Toyota nameplate.
This week, Hamlin, who finished in eighth place in the 2024 driver’s standings, will participate in a single-car qualifying session on Wednesday, February 12, and in one of two Duel events on Thursday, February 13, to determine his starting lineup for this year’s Daytona 500. The qualifying session on Wednesday will begin airing at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Duels will begin airing at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, February 16, with a starting broadcast time of 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
