Denny Hamlin is on the verge of achieving a career milestone in his 20th consecutive full-time season as a NASCAR Cup Series competiton. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Nashville Superspeedway, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota Camry XSE entry will make his 700th career start in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Chesterfield, Virginia, Hamlin made his Cup Series debut at Kansas Speedway in October 2005. By then, he was competing in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series with JGR. He was also selected as the fourth competitor overall to pilot JGR’s No. 11 Chevrolet entry and fill in for the remaining seven events of the 2005 schedule.
Starting seventh, Hamlin finished 32nd in his Cup debut at Kansas. He proceeded to record his first three top-10 career results throughout his next six starts. During the span, he recorded a season-best seventh-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in November and notched his first Cup career pole the following weekend at Phoenix Raceway, where he finished 13th despite leading 23 laps.
The following season, Hamlin was promoted to a full-time Cup Series ride in JGR’s No. 11 Chevrolet entry. By claiming his first career pole at Phoenix during the previous season, he also earned an automatic berth to the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway in February. During the Shootout, Hamlin led three times for 16 of 72 laps and fended off the field during a two-lap restart to become the first rookie competitor to win the Shootout.
He commenced his first full-time Cup season with a 30th-place finish during the 48th running of the Daytona 500 before recording five top-10 results throughout his next 12 starts. Then at Pocono Raceway in June, the Virginia native, who led 83 of 200 laps, rallied from a Lap 50 spin due to blowing a left-rear tire to score his first Cup career victory.
Another six races later, he doubled down at Pocono in July by claiming his second career win after he led 151 of 200 laps. During both Pocono victories, he started on the pole. Finishing in the top 10 throughout the remaining five of six regular-season events, Hamlin clinched a berth into the Playoffs.
He became the first Cup Series rookie candidate to make NASCAR’s postseason battle for the championship. Hamlin finished in the top 10 seven times throughout the remaining 10 Playoff events. After accumulating a total of 20 top-10 results, he settled in third place in the final standings. Despite missing the title by 63 points, he sealed up the Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Throughout Hamlin’s sophomore Cup Series season in 2007, he achieved a single victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June. He made his second career Playoffs, before settling in 12th place in the final standings. During his junior season in 2008, when JGR switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota, Hamlin notched a single victory of the year at Martinsville Speedway in March.
He proceeded to make his third consecutive Playoffs before finishing in eighth place in the final standings. During both seasons, he recorded a pole and finished both in the top five 12 times and in the top 10 18 times apiece. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
Hamlin’s next two Cup seasons were competitive. The driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota going winless through the first 20-scheduled events of the 2009 season before he notched his first victory at Pocono. Five races later, he capped off the regular-season stretch by scoring a dominant victory at Richmond Raceway, his home track. Despite finishing outside the top 20 four times throughout the Playoffs that derailed his championship hopes of the 2009 season, he claimed victories at Martinsville and the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway to conclude the season in fifth place in the final standings.
Hamlin then doubled down on his win column by notching a career-high eight victories in 2010, where he swept both Martinsville and Texas Motor Speedway events. He also claimed his first crown jewel victory by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and would also win at Pocono, Michigan International Speedway and the regular-season finale at Richmond. Amid the victories that drew him into championship contention and had him leading the championship standings with two-scheduled events remaining, Hamlin capped off the season with two consecutive finishes in the top 14, which relegated him back to a career-best second place in the 2010 final standings as he fell 39 points shy of winning his first Cup title to Jimmie Johnson.
Compared to the 2010 season, Hamlin managed to achieve only one victory in 2011, which occurred at Michigan in June. Despite making the Playoffs for a sixth consecutive season and surpassing 200 Cup career starts, he dropped back to ninth place in the final standings. He rebounded during the 2012 season by notching five victories, which included first-time trips to Victory Lane at Phoenix Raceway, Kansas Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His fifth victory of the season occurred at New Hampshire in September during the Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, however, Hamlin finished outside the top 10 six times, which kept him out of the championship battle as he settled in sixth place in the final standings.
The 2013 Cup season generated Hamlin’s most difficult season to date. It began with the Virginia native recording a single top-three finish during the season’s first three scheduled events. He finished 23rd at Bristol in March. Then after enduring a run-in with ex-teammate Joey Logano, Hamlin was involved in a vicious head-on accident on the final lap amid contact with Logano while battling for the victory during the following event at Auto Club Speedway.
The incident left Hamlin with a severe L1 compression fracture and out of competition over the next four events. Despite returning by early May, Hamlin recorded only two top-four results and three top-10 results throughout the remaining 17 events on the regular-season schedule as he missed the Playoffs for the first time in his career. Despite accumulating three additional top-10 results through nine Playoff events, he capped off the season on a positive note by winning the finale at Homestead and maintaining his winning streak to eight consecutive seasons.
Poised for redemption, Hamlin commenced the 2014 Cup season with early momentum by winning the non-points Sprint Unlimited and the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona before finishing in second place during the 56th running of the Daytona 500.
Despite being absent from competing at Auto Club Speedway in March due to a sinus infection within the first nine-scheduled events, Hamlin claimed his first victory of the season at Talladega in April, which marked his first points-paying superspeedway victory and occurred in his 300th Cup career start.
After finishing in the top 10 eight times throughout the remaining 16 regular-season events, he recorded six top-10 results throughout the Playoffs, which enabled him to transfer all the way from the Round of 16 to the Championship 4 round. Amid a late pit strategy to remain on the track with the lead on old tires, Hamlin fell back to seventh place during the finale at Homestead as he settled in third place in the final standings.
Between the 2015 and 2017 seasons, Hamlin notched a total of seven Cup victories. During the 2015 season, he won at Martinsville in March before winning the 2015 Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway after rallying from an opening lap spin.
The team also utilized a late pit strategy to remain on the track on old tires. During the 2015 season, he also won the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first victory in the event for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Hamlin, however, was eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 12 and settled in ninth place in the final standings.
He commenced the 2016 season on a high note by winning the 58th running of the Daytona 500 after edging Martin Truex Jr. by 0.010 seconds for his first Great American Race victory. After winning at Watkins Glen International and the regular-season finale at Richmond, Hamlin would make the 2016 Playoffs and end up in sixth place in the final standings after being eliminated from title contention at the conclusion of the Round of 8. Like the 2016 season, Hamlin, who won at New Hampshire and the Southern 500 for a second time, settled in sixth place in the 2017 final standings after he was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 8. By then, he surpassed 400 Cup career starts.
The 2018 Cup season featured Hamlin’s first winless season despite the Virginia veteran making the Playoffs for the 12th time in his career. Throughout the season, he finished as high as second twice at Dover Motor Speedway and at Martinsville during the Playoffs. After he was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 16, he settled in 11th place in the final standings.
Hamlin then rallied at the start of the 2019 season, winning the 61st running of the Daytona 500 and notching his second victory in the Great American Race. He claimed regular-season victories at Texas, Pocono and the Bristol Night Race before the Playoffs commenced.
After utilizing consistency throughout the Round of 16 to transfer into the Round of 12, Hamlin notched a victory at Kansas during the Round of 12 and another one at Phoenix during the Round of 8, which enabled him to transfer into the Championship 4 round for a second time in his career.
Initially poised to claim his first Cup title, Hamlin was mired with late overheating issues, where a nose tape was covering his front grille, that forced him to make an extra pit stop. As a result, he ended up in 10th place during the finale at Homestead and in fourth place in the final standings. By then, he notched the third-most victories in a Cup season at six, a career-high 19 top-five results, an average-finishing result of 9.5 and surpassed 500 Cup career starts.
Coming off a strong 2019 season, Hamlin remained competitive over his next two Cup seasons. It started by edging Ryan Blaney by a nose to win the 62nd running of the Daytona 500. It was Hamlin’s third time winning the Great American Race. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he notched a rain-shortened victory at Darlington in May before claiming additional regular-season victories at Homestead, Pocono, Kansas and Dover.
Despite recording three top-10 results, including his seventh victory of the 2020 season at Talladega, through nine Playoff events, Hamlin managed to transfer all the way from the Round of 16 to the Championship 4 round, where he ended up in fourth place in the final standings. In 2021, Hamlin notched only two victories, which occurred in the Southern 500 and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Playoffs.
Nonetheless, he made the Championship 4 round for a fourth time in his career and went on to finish in third place in the final standings. Through both seasons, he notched a combined 37 top-five results, 46 top-10 results, 2,585 laps led and average-finishing results of 9.3 in 2020 and a career-best 8.4 in 2021. Within the span, he recorded a career-high 19 top-five results, 25 top-10 results and led a career-best 1,502 laps throughout the 2021 season.
Throughout the 2022 and 2023 Cup seasons, Hamlin added an additional five victories to his resume, which started by winning at Richmond for a fourth time in April 2022 before he won the crown-jewel Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte for the first time in his career. The following season, his first victory of the year occurred at Kansas amid a final-lap battle with Kyle Larson. He then rallied from another late run-in with Larson to win at Pocono before he won the Bristol Night Race for a third time in his career. Despite making the Playoffs, Hamlin ended up falling one points position shy of transferring to the Championship 4 round during both seasons, with the Virginia native finishing in fifth place in the final standings during both seasons. By then, he surpassed 600 Cup career starts.
This past season, Hamlin achieved three victories, which occurred at Bristol, Richmond and Dover, respectively, throughout the first half of the regular-season stretch. He also won the third and final Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Despite notching six top-10 finishes through nine Playoff events, Hamlin’s Playoff hopes came to an end following the Round of 8 for a third consecutive season. With an 11th-place run during the 2024 finale at Phoenix, he settled in eighth place in the final standings.
Through 699 previous starts in the Cup Series division, Hamlin has achieved 56 victories, 43 poles, 239 top-five results, 364 top-10 results, 15,666 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.2. He is currently ranked in sixth place in the 2025 driver’s standings on the strengths of two victories (Martinsville in March and Darlington in April). He also has recorded xix top-10 results through 13-scheduled starts.
For this upcoming weekend at Nashville, Hamlin is scheduled to become the 22nd competitor overall to reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition to being four victories away from becoming the 11th competitor overall to reach 60 victories in the Cup division, he also continues his pursuit for his first championship.
Denny Hamlin will make his 700th Cup Series career start at Nashville Superspeedway for the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday, June 1, and air at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
