MotoGP champion Casey Stoner once said, “Hard work beats talent, until talent decides to work hard.” This can very well apply to Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin. In a sport like NASCAR, where drivers often fade with time, Hamlin is rather enjoying a second wave in the later phase of his career. And one insider compared his late-career resurgence to Jeff Gordon’s 2009 comeback.

In a recent episode of The Teardown, NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi was truly impressed with how Hamlin has turned himself around after his win at Las Vegas. He compared this to Jeff Gordon from the 2009 season. Back then, Gordon had crossed his peak years and was suffering from back pain. Despite that, he won a pole at Martinsville and triumphed at Texas that year, silencing many doubters.

Bianchi said, “People are questioning, ‘Why are you playing basketball. Why are you doing this?’ There’s just been moments throughout his career where it’s been like this.

“We have seen the maturation of Denny Hamlin. Where he’s always been incredibly talented, but now he’s got a work ethic to match it. I think that is ultimately what separates him from everyone else.”

From his debut till 2019, Hamlin had some great years, and the wins came along steadily. But since 2019, there’s been a clear spike where we’ve seen him add 24 wins since then in a much shorter span. That’s what Bianchi emphasized as he explained why he could achieve that.

“That is because he has embraced this grinding, behind-the-scenes, ‘I’m going to outwork everybody’ mindset. You talk to people in Gibbs, he’s the guy on the simulator. He’s the driver who’s in the simulator, doing all that stuff, and he’s the guy going, ‘Hey, we need to do this this and this.’ He’s putting in that time.”

The flip side

Sometimes, the very same late-career momentum that seems to be on the rise can suddenly stop. Bianchi gave an example of Jimmie Johnson for this. After winning his record seventh championship in 2016, Johnson entered 2017 with that boost, winning three races very early in the year.

But in an unfortunate twist, those became his last ones. Bianchi used that example to explain how this uncertainty can apply to anybody in this sport, and right now, that figure could be Hamlin.

“He (Hamlin) wins in Dover and kicks everybody’s butt like, ‘Man! He’s on a roll now, he’s going to get that 8th championship.’ Guess what, never won again. You just don’t know, and that’s the sad reality. You hate to say it, but this could be Denny Hamlin’s last win. We have seen it happen before; it just stops, but that’s reality.”

Nonetheless, for Hamlin, that possibility looks less likely right now if he continues on this momentum, where he’s finally using all his hardships to actually turn things around for him, rather than letting him down.

“If he continues to work like this and continues to put himself in position with a great team like this, the opportunity should be there,” he concluded.