\u201cIt\u2019s hard sometimes because there\u2019s been years where it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, what happened?\u2019\u2019 Hamlin told RACER. \u201cWe don\u2019t have enough time in a day for me to explain to you what happened. There are just so many things to the sport that are hard to explain and so many things\u2026 I just don\u2019t know if there\u2019s another sport where things are out of your control as much as this one. I try to think of another sport where there are more variables, and I just can\u2019t find one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defeats, and what has at times been downright unbelievable misfortune, has led Hamlin to proclaim he\u2019s \u201c cursed\u201d when it comes to the championship hunt. During the Netflix docuseries released in January, Hamlin made such a comment, and felt the same way in August after his team was penalized for an engine infraction by Toyota that cost them 75 driver points and 10 playoff points.<\/p>\n
If not cursed, then Hamlin\u2019s career has certainly been snakebitten. Hamlin lost the championship in the 2010 finale after giving up a chunk of points in the penultimate race when his team pitted him for fuel. Jimmie Johnson, Hamlin\u2019s closest rival, finished in the top five and cut the gap to 15 points. Hamlin had led the most laps that afternoon.<\/p>\n
A week later, Johnson won the championship. Hamlin didn\u2019t qualify well and spun during the event, damaging his car and putting him behind all afternoon.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Hamlin finished third in the championship in the first year of the elimination format. A year later, 2015, he was eliminated at Talladega Superspeedway when his roof hatch came loose and required a pit stop.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/hamlin-hoping-to-flip-the-script-in-nascar-title-quest.jpg\")
Hamlin’s 2019 championship hopes were derailed by some tape on the grille that caused his car to overheat at the season finale. Nigel Kinrade\/Motorsport Images<\/p>\n
Hamlin won six races in 2019 and went into the Homestead finale with momentum after having won the weekend before at Phoenix Raceway. As the race wound down, Hamlin was running second and was quicker than Kyle Busch when the final round of pit stops changed everything. Chris Gabehart had the best intentions \u2013 speed \u2013 when instructing the team to put tape on the grille of Hamlin\u2019s Toyota. But instead of helping, the misplaced piece of tape caused an overheating problem and resulted in Hamlin having to come back to pit road.<\/p>\n
Ross Chastain eliminated Hamlin from the playoffs in 2022 with what is now known as the Hail Melon. The move gave Chastain the positions he needed to advance to the Championship 4 at Hamlin’s expense.<\/p>\n
And last year, Hamlin was eliminated in the Round of 8 due in part to a power steering failure at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished fifth in the championship.<\/p>\n
Hamlin has finished in the top four in the championship standings six times in his career. In those seasons, he won a combined 26 races. In 2010, which was before the elimination format, he led the series in wins (eight). In 2019 and 2020, he had the second-most wins in the series (six and seven, respectively).<\/p>\n
The first two rounds of the 2024 playoffs have continued the trend of intrigue around Hamlin and how it will also end.<\/p>\n
An ill-handling car in the opener at Atlanta after qualifying in the rear because of a spark plug issue, coupled with a cautious approach, led to a small points gain. He was collected in a first lap crash a week later at Watkins Glen. The pit crew struggled throughout the afternoon in Kansas. A two-tire call at Talladega nearly backfired but it ended up putting Hamlin far enough behind the field that he missed the 27-car wreck and wound up gaining points.<\/p>\n
Hamlin is still alive, though, and feeling as confident as ever given the tracks ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver time, I\u2019ve at peace with doing the best that I can do and not letting failure just completely drag me down,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cI\u2019ve had it also so many times that when you walk over burnt coals, eventually your feet scar up and that scar tissue hardens and you don\u2019t feel the pain anymore. So, maybe that\u2019s happening, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I hate trying to explain why it hasn\u2019t happened. There are just too many crazy things I\u2019d have to explain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Denny Hamlin has not won a NASCAR Cup Series championship. And he doesn’t need any reminders. It\u2019s easy to point out the one thing missing from Hamlin\u2019s resume when discussing his career. A resume, by the way, that is NASCAR Hall of Fame worthy without the championship. And it\u2019s easy, particularly for a critic, or …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","has-thumb","has-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.timesamerica.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}