Denny Hamlin is still riding off his 60th Cup win and rightfully so. It wasn’t just the final 10 laps of Las Vegas Motor Speedway that cemented Hamlin’s legacy, but also years and years of patience and hard work that have gone behind it. After restarting ninth, he sliced for the field, overtook his teammate with four laps to go, and held off Kyle Larson to claim victory. Hamlin drove like he had something to prove.

Everyone knows how much this moment meant for him. This early win gave him a golden ticket into the Championship 4, his best shot at the Bill France Cup in the Next-Gen era. But before all that glory, Hamlin knew what was at stake, and when he finally achieved it, the veteran racer couldn’t help but break down.

Denny Hamlin admits to getting choked up after 60th win

Speaking on the NASCAR The (Thurs)Day After show, Denny Hamlin laid it out bare.  When he was asked about the moment he knew he had won, he said, “When I took the white truthfully. I mean, I was a mess that entire real last lap. But you know, and then it’s whenever, you know, I talk, you know that I get all choked up and stuff because I just, I understand, you know, the significance of it, and for me, there were just so many factors in this one that that really were, you know, the reason why it meant so much.” 

More than it being a personal goal. It meant a lot more for the Joe Gibbs Racing family. Hamlin has been with the same team for over 20 years, right from the time he made his debut. Having achieved such a milestone that puts you in 10th place on the all-time win list, tied with the legendary Kevin Harvick, isn’t something merely ordinary.

The 44-year-old has openly acknowledged that the weight of the expectations and the pressure to extend his legacy were very real. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin admitted: “You just never know when it’s your last one…but man, I don’t feel that last 10 laps, my confidence is really, really high in going away any time soon.”

The emotions hit Denny Hamlin like a truck. The playoff season has been rough for the 44-year-old, as he kept finding himself in controversies and run-ins with his fellow drivers, which coincided with his father’s health problems. Perhaps that’s why winning the 60th Cup race meant so much for the Virginia-native.

Despite the victory, Hamlin also described the situation as hard to predict, emphasizing that his advantage now comes with the burden of maintaining it. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver added, “Obviously, you know, 60 wins is a goal I set out years ago that I knew that, listen, it was attainable, but I needed to still stay hot even beyond, you know, the peak years of my career. I was going to still have to stay hot and win more than one or two races a year to get there.”

However, the pressure on Denny Hamlin has now intensified, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes that Hamlin could match The Intimidator‘s 76-win record. Although the 44-year-old is 16 wins shy of that record, it is no small number. Junior also believes that Hamlin will be chasing wins through his contract with Joe Gibbs, which expires in 2027.

Kyle Petty says there’s no cap on Hamlin’s future wins

Seems like ‘The King’ is not the only one heaping praise on Denny Hamlin. His son, Kyle Petty, also believes that the No. 11 driver isn’t stopping at 60 wins any time soon. Among active drivers, only two rank higher: 7-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson with 83 wins, though now running a limited schedule, and Kyle Busch with 63 wins, who is currently enduring a 90-race winless streak, the longest of his career.

Speaking on NASCAR Inside The Race, he said, “I’m not so sure that 60 is going to be the number that he stops on because I think he’s got more wins left in him.” Hamlin still has three races left in the season to add to his total. With Talladega, Martinsville, and the Phoenix championship finale ahead, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has a strong shot at extending his win tally and perhaps, finally, capturing his elusive 1st Cup title.

Petty, however, insists Hamlin’s legacy doesn’t depend on it. He added, “I don’t care whether he ever wins a championship. Nobody ever talks about Junior Johnson and says, ‘Hey, he won all these races [50], but he never won a championship’ [although he earned 132 wins and six Cup championships as a team owner]. You talk about Junior Johnson as a driver and an owner, and that’s what we’re going to talk about Denny Hamlin as a driver and as an owner.”

Given Joe Gibbs Racing’s current momentum, 2025 might be the season Hamlin turns that narrative around. And with the Penske drivers currently rallying below the cut-off line and Hamlin leading it, all eyes will be on the No. 11 to see if he can end Penske’s dominance.