just last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Denny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240664209-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Denny Hamlin\u2019s win in Las Vegas earlier this month clinched his spot in the Championship 4. This will be Hamlin\u2019s 10th finish in the top five, but so far, he\u2019s never won the Cup Series title. (Logan Riely \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Yet here is Hamlin, as competitive as ever. How has he been able to do it? By following the familiar recipe that includes Hamlin\u2019s special ingredient: His ability to adapt to his situation and surroundings at all times.<\/p>\n
Hamlin is NASCAR\u2019s chameleon, constantly changing his colors in order to fit in with whatever the moment requires.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s why I welcome change,\u201d he said. \u201cI always want change. Do not let it sit and get too stagnant, because everyone is going to catch up eventually to whatever I feel like my edge is. I absolutely love change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamlin has raced in four different generations of Cup Series cars, reshaping his driving style each time. He believes his unusually high number of Hall of Fame-caliber teammates \u2014 from Busch and Martin Truex Jr. to Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards \u2014 each showed him a piece of what makes up the ideal driver.<\/p>\n
So he decided to take aspects of each of their strengths and mash it into his own style, like a golfer rebuilding their swing.<\/p>\n
But his adaptability showed itself long before that. As a kid, when he graduated to a faster and more challenging go-kart, he immediately jumped in and started ripping off wins. As a Cup Series rookie, he swept the unusually shaped, triangular Pocono Raceway in 2006 \u2014 and \u201csomehow adapted quicker than some of the drivers that have been racing there for decades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just do my best to figure out how to make speed out of whatever the change is,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cIf it\u2019s a new tire? All right, educate me. Give me all the information you can. If (the tire) wants this, then I need to approach the corner like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s a new car? All right, the Next Gen (car) has got more drag, less downforce, more grip. How do I need to approach racing tracks now with this kind of car?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamlin also had to adapt to what modern racing requires, which includes more studying. He ramped up his work ethic and notably spent 7.5 hours in the simulator before Las Vegas, then won that race.<\/p>\n
Even his weekly podcast, \u201cActions Detrimental,\u201d was created largely in response to the dire sponsorship climate \u2014 to help build his brand and become more appealing to potential backers. Now his car is trending toward being fully sold out for next season, with new sponsors like Progressive Insurance coming on board.<\/p>\n
Seeing Hamlin in this position now seems like quite the turnaround from how the year was shaping up to unfold originally. He was paired with Gayle, who, despite crew chiefing at the Cup Series level for six full seasons prior to joining with Hamlin, had just two career Cup wins and had never made it past the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Hamlin didn\u2019t exactly sound optimistic prior to the season, both by making it known he was upset about the Gabehart move and giving only a meager vote of confidence publicly for Gayle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is honesty hour, (the hesitation) was because he was unproven,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m in a JGR competition meeting, I always listen to the driver and the crew chief of whoever ran well that weekend, and they were never one of the top couple. So I never got to know him much, because I never really heard much from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Gayle, a NASCAR veteran with 37 career Xfinity Series wins \u2014 including 20 with Kyle Busch \u2014 never took the lack of faith personally. He figured Hamlin simply didn\u2019t have enough information to know if Gayle was the man for the job or not, similar to the 24-hour period when Hamlin had to decide whether to accept Gayle as his crew chief (Gayle planned to leave the organization for another team if Hamlin said no).<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hold any bad blood for that. That\u2019s an honest evaluation on his part,\u201d Gayle said of Hamlin\u2019s lack of initial enthusiasm over the hire.<\/p>\n
And Hamlin didn\u2019t mean it to be personal. Though he tried to keep an open mind, the driver now acknowledges he was \u201cscared of the change.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240676353-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Crew chief Chris Gayle (left) and Denny Hamlin celebrate the Las Vegas win, their sixth as a team this season. Hamlin initially was wary of the abrupt change away from Chris Gabehart. (Logan Riely \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
When The Athletic interviewed Hamlin before the season, with only one practice session under his belt, Hamlin seized upon the fact his car began the day off the pace and Gayle made adjustments to improve the speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking for any glimmer of hope,\u201d Hamlin said now, looking back. \u201cWe rolled in with no sponsors, new crew chief, all that. I was looking for anything that was positive at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
In reality, he acknowledged, \u201cI was probably more pessimistic.\u201d But it didn\u2019t take Hamlin long to become fully convinced.<\/p>\n
In late March, when the changes Gayle made for Hamlin\u2019s car got the driver back to victory lane at Martinsville for the first time since 2015, Hamlin quickly realized Gayle was perfectly capable of giving him what he needed to win races \u2014 and maybe the championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized with the right people around him and when he gets the information he\u2019s seeking, he can do great things with a car,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he ever doubted any of the other drivers he worked with, but he probably needed to lead them down a path (for a setup) \u2014 whereas I can lead him down a path. That\u2019s a lot different of a dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their success has helped soothe the feelings surrounding Gabehart\u2019s promotion, which blindsided Hamlin. Even though Gayle and Hamlin have better numbers in several categories than last year\u2019s No. 11 team with Gabehart, Hamlin said he still doesn\u2019t know how he would have done had the pairing been able to stick together.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Hamlin and Gayle) have won six races this year; would we have won three (with Gabehart)? Would we have won 10?\u201d he said. \u201cI know every little bit of all the facts, and I have no idea, truthfully.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I know that all of our cars are winning more races and I\u2019m having as successful of a year as I have in the last three or four.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Gabehart\u2019s leadership at JGR has led the team to two in the Championship 4 \u2014 only the second time an organization has done that \u2014 and 13 victories this season.<\/p>\n
And Hamlin didn\u2019t doubt Gabehart would achieve that success; it\u2019s just that \u201cselfishly, I didn\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you going to break up one of the most successful combinations to do that?\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cI understand because it was the right thing for the organization, but it doesn\u2019t mean I have to be happy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team owner Joe Gibbs understands, but he also banked on Hamlin realizing that what could be good for the organization as a whole meant Hamlin\u2019s own cars could also improve. And ultimately, that seems to have been the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy, I\u2019ll put it that way,\u201d Gibbs said. \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t be more pleased with what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the team has Hamlin potentially on the doorstep of his first career title, 312 miles away from finally being able to silence the detractors who poke at the giant hole on his resume.<\/p>\n
But Hamlin knows even if everything lines up exactly right and he does his job to perfection, there\u2019s always the piano-falling-from-the-sky-moment that could ruin his hopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruthfully, in the bucket of luck, my (career) luck in the playoffs has been freaking horrible,\u201d he said. \u201cI only need it to be good for one more week. That\u2019s it. Just hang on for one more week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This could finally be the week Denny Hamlin sheds one of NASCAR\u2019s most conflicted labels: The best driver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-245446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-motorsports","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}