Denny Hamlin was never in a vengeful mood. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran went through several hurdles on Sunday to clinch his season’s fourth victory. He navigated through a 56-minute rain delay and twin overtime restarts. Then, two extremely ambitious teammates never let Hamlin rest throughout the race. However, the one who truly ruffled his feathers was In-Season Challenge finalist Ty Dillon!

Ty Dillon’s race antics were not the only factor nagging Denny Hamlin. Having been the No. 1 seed for the tournament, the latter regretted getting eliminated in the very first round to see the lowest seed (No. 32) go all the way to the finale. However, Hamlin has a merciful attitude and eventually did not hold anything against Dillon.

Denny Hamlin dissects his Dover dilemma

Ty Dillon had a Cinderella story right from the get-go. He was paired up with Denny Hamlin in Atlanta and beat the latter after Hamlin was involved in a 22-car wreck. He went viral among NASCAR fans after using Hamlin’s infamous ‘I beat your favorite driver’ line against him. However, Hamlin eagerly invited that play of words, congratulating Dillon on his feat.

Then the Kaulig Racing driver extended his streak by knocking out Brad Keselowski at Chicago, Alex Bowman in Sonoma, and eventually John Hunter Nemechek in Dover. While racing the latter, Dillon was in a tight-knit battle and hence, the #10 Kaulig driver got a little aggressive, and that is where he crossed paths with Hamlin.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver hurled expletives at Ty Dillon after a green-flag pit cycle. Denny Hamlin found it difficult to regain his lead in the face of Dillon’s ambition. “I’m just burning my s— up with this f—– idiot,” Hamlin radioed after Dillon apparently “cut him off.” Now, after cooling down from the race win,  Denny Hamlin explained in an ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode: “I knew that he [Ty Dillon] was racing for the Lucky Dog. He knows that I am the leader at the time; he wants to stay on the lead lap. Yeah, he’s fighting tooth and nail with everything he can. At the moment, I was just p—– off that we just lost the lead.” However, Hamlin forgave Dillon for his actions: “I don’t know, probably I’m alright with it, generally speaking now. Like, even 10 minutes later, I was fine with it.“

The scene was set with Denny Hamlin in the lead and Ty Dillon with fresh tires from the pit box and a lap down. The #10 desperately needed to get unlapped as his In-Season Challenge rival, John Hunter Nemechek, was not trailing. His moves to keep Denny at bay frustrated the veteran, but with #11 ending up in Victory Lane, Hamlin doesn’t feel the sting of that. However, he did go on to explain why Dillon’s antics were so frustrating, and why they worked.

Denny Hamlin added, “The worst case scenario for you as a leader when you come in to pit and you come out, say you’ve run 3, 4, 5 laps, and then somebody that was running at the back comes out, they got fresh tires and they’re right in front of you. So what happens is, they’re not the same speed as you when you’re on equal tires. Or when they have fresh tires and you have old tires, it now equals out your speed, and you’re now stuck behind this person. Because of the way it works out, right?… They just pulled up in front of me; they’re slower than I am, and now they’re gonna hold me up on fresher tires.”

This tire advantage gave Dillon more grip, but Dillon did not have the speed to run away from Hamlin, and the #11 did not have the tires to overtake Dillon. The two were stuck in a deadlock. And this wasn’t even the first instance of this in the race. Hamlin pointed to Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott mimicking this when Suarez was trying to get on the lead lap while Elliott was leading. Hamlin added, “We saw it with Suarez, kinda holding up the 9, too, in the first stage… When you try to lap cars, they don’t want you to lap ’em.”

Eventually, Denny Hamlin masterfully knocked out all the obstacles in his path, including Ty Dillon’s fierce drive. In the process, he reignited a conversation, but he is not so bothered.

Hamlin shrugs at elusive career milestone

For Denny Hamlin’s age, he is doing a lot of things that no other NASCAR driver can dream of doing. Outside the racetrack, the veteran is juggling multiple duties. He dealt with separation from his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, and also sponsorship woes during the off-season. The ongoing distraction of a major NASCAR lawsuit and the responsibility as the father of a third child were additional sources of stress. Despite all these factors, Hamlin still manages to be as fast as ever on the racetrack. After his Dover victory, Hamlin is now the season wins leader. But he has hardly been mentioned as a possible championship contender. Over two decades of his career, Hamlin has failed to achieve a championship.

Being 44 years of age, this might be his last chance to clinch a Cup Series title. However, Denny Hamlin scoffed at his own chances considering his failure in the In-Season Tournament. “We couldn’t even make it (past the) 32nd seed in a bracket…It’s a tough format. When you shorten your seasons into three races, freakin’ anything can happen. I try not to just (say), ‘Oh, we’re going to do it this year.’” The playoff format that doesn’t reward Hamlin’s consistency also plays a role with his mindset toward winning it all.

However, the 58-time race winner Hamlin is also not bothered. He has a different goal in his mind. “If we do, we do. If we don’t, we don’t. I care about wins. I want more trophies, more trophies, more trophies. When I’m done, I want to be in the top 10 of all-time winners. That will mean more than any other accomplishment I could have.” Hamlin currently sits at #11 on the all-time wins list, two behind Kevin Harvick at 60 wins. And who knows, maybe he can breach that mark this season!

Clearly, Denny Hamlin is not letting any regrets or upsets cloud his mind. The veteran’s goals are clear: winning never stops.