Denny Hamlin Left Hilariously Devastated With No Championship as Kyle Busch’s Lays Bare Viral Video

“This is going to be Denny Hamlin’s Year,” is the meme that often floats around on the internet every year. It is a way that rival fans base torment the veteran JGR driver, knowing that he would run out of luck even if he is in contention. And if we are to look back at history, it is hard to deny that Hamlin is indeed one of the unluckiest drivers when it comes to completing his NASCAR legacy.

In recent memory, the 2019 championship race at Homestead Miami Speedway was his best shot to win the championship. Now that NASCAR’s championship weekend is going back to South Florida, Hamlin, who hasn’t been able to make it final 4 in the last three seasons, is thrilled about his chances. But before he could have a go at the 2026 title race, he was curious to know if he would win the Bill France Trophy, after seeing Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski in the NASCAR commercial.

The video, shared on Instagram, is a Back to the Future-inspired skit featuring Busch and Keselowski, set in 2019, where they “travel” to the future to announce the 2026 Championship returning to Homestead-Miami Speedway. But Hamlin thought Rowdy was able to go beyond 2025. Things took a turn for Hamlin when he asked Busch while having him as a guest on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

“So do I ever end up winning a championship or not?” to which Busch replied, “Do you?” Hamlin pressed, “I don’t know I thought you all were the ones who went to the future and came back,” and Busch delivered the zinger: “So the video was shot as if it was the day of the championship race in 2019 and we came back in today like May of 2025, so no Denny! You have not won a championship from 2018-2025.” Interestingly, the closest Denny Hamlin has come to winning the championship in recent times was in 2019, which was also the last year Homestead hosted the championship weekend.

The driver of the No. 11 car was chasing down his teammate Kyle Busch for the lead, and in the process, his team went overboard with tricks to make more speed from the car. Chris Gabehart decided to put a big piece of tape on the front grille of Hamlin’s car. But this move backfired and the engine overheated and Hamlin ended his championship quest with a 1oth place finish. Despite this call, the driver didn’t point fingers at his crew chief.

“Certainly, we got a little aggressive there, and it cost us. But (Gabehart’s) also been really aggressive and won us races, too. It’s just he’s going for it. He saw an opportunity there to really add some speed to the car, and it just didn’t work out.” He said after the race. Well, part of the problem for him not winning the title seems to be the controversial playoff format. We all know how Joey Logano’s third championship triumph led to outrage among the fans, with many of them demanding changes. And it seems like Hamlin has found a perfect format that will promote consistency and skill over luck to determine a true champion.

An ideal elimination-style playoff format by Denny Hamlin

Now, there have been suggestions to do away with the knockout rounds and adopt the old points system. This again doesn’t solve the core issue, as the broadcaster likes this format and it has done well for them, so as far as elimination goes, it is likely to stay. But, according to Hamlin, the format should reward more points to the consistent drivers in the regular season, and a single win should lock in a driver to the playoffs or the next round.

“I think it should be 12, not 16, that will eliminate the guy in 33rd that’s going to win a race… So, if you double the bonus points, create 12 drivers, I think that’s about how many winners you will have and winning doesn’t necessarily lock you in. And then not resetting the points that you’ve accumulated. Like you don’t keep resetting the score, and then you keep chopping off that bottom four every three races or whatever it might be.” Hamlin explained on the podcast.

Given NASCAR has listened to the fans and they are reviewing the playoff format, there is hope that we might see tweaks and positive changes to the current system.