Ever heard the term ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’? That expression unfortunately fits Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin. The #11 driver made his NASCAR Cup Series debut all the way back in 2005 and is now in his 18th season. Admittedly, his full-time debut came in 2006, but the fact remains that he has been on the scene for a while. Coming into the sport at the age of 25 does not leave him with much time as a racing driver. After all, the competitive edge starts to fade off as you grow older.

It doesn’t help Hamlin’s case that many of his opponents are getting younger and younger. For perspective, his former teammate Kyle Busch joined NASCAR when he was 18 years old. Now, Hamlin is 42 years old and time is running out for him. To date, Denny Hamlin has never won the NASCAR Cup Series title. While he has come so close, he remains so far from the ultimate triumph.

What was the closest that Denny Hamlin came to winning a Cup title?

That would be in 2010 when he finished 2nd in the standing behind Jimmie Johnson. Without a doubt, there was no stopping the #48 Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut. Hamlin did give it a good go, taking eight wins during the season and finishing a mere 39 points adrift of Johnson. Johnson himself took six wins that year and turned in a more consistent performance. The lowest he has ever finished in the championship is 23, which was in the 2013 season.

Apart from that hiccup, he has consistently finished inside the Top 16 every year. In essence, Hamlin has been a championship contender in every season except for the 2013 campaign. In his career, he has amassed 51 race wins, which is fairly impressive, but he has yet to add a Cup Series title to his name. In 2023, the Joe Gibbs Racing star notched up three wins, with the last one securing his Round of 12 berth.

The 42-year-old is firmly keeping faith in his abilities, and he is definitely talented. Some would even say that he is the best driver to never win a NASCAR Cup Series championship. This puts him alongside drivers like Mark Martin, Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr and many more.

How is the Joe Gibbs driver performing in the 2023 NASCAR Cup season?

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As mentioned before, he has racked up three race wins over the course of the campaign. In addition to that, he has been a regular threat for the race win on multiple occasions. When he triumphed at the Bristol Motor Speedway, he declared that this year was finally going to be his year to win the title. It’s hard not to agree with him because he is such a strong contender, and looking at his results, it is not hard to see why. His latest victory has seen him surpass the likes of Tony Stewart and Ned Jarrett in terms of total wins.

Admittedly, he did have a few poor finishes in the season, namely a couple of crashes, which were mostly not of his doing. Despite all of those setbacks, he and crew chief Chris Gabehart recorded an average finish of 8.6. When the Playoffs began, he endured a bad start, with a lowly 25th at Darlington. Fortunately, he was able to overcome it at the next race in Kansas, finishing in 2nd place. Finally, he got the big break he needed with his Bristol win, marking his 51st.

Is time running out for the #11 driver?

At the age of 42, he is definitely not getting any younger. Also bearing in mind that former rival Kevin Harvick is retiring at the end of the season, how long until it is Hamlin’s turn? It also doesn’t help that teammate Martin Truex Jr has also been the subject of similar rumors. Fortunately for Joe Gibbs Racing, both Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr are doing well to quash those rumors.

He said after the race, “It’s our year. I feel like we’ve got it all put together. We’ve got the speed for every single type of race track, so there’s nothing to stop us at this point. I don’t think I’ve been any better and I don’t think our team has been any better. At our best, I know we’re good enough (to win the championship). There’s something special about this year and really the last four, five years that’s been a lot of fun.”

From 2019 to 2021, Hamlin was in the Championship 4 on all three occasions. It was only last year that he missed out, finishing the year in fifth place. This time around, he will be aiming to come back stronger than ever and his first target is to survive Playoff elimination. From there, he will be focused on trying to reach the Championship 4 and the title.

READ MORE: Denny Hamlin Painfully Admits Defeat to Hendrick Motorsports as He Reveals Kyle Larson Factor is Holding Back Tyler Reddick

Does Denny Hamlin have what it takes to be a Cup Champion?

At the end of the day, love him or hate him, there’s no denying his talent. We are currently in an era where older athletes are still sticking around in their respective sports. Even better than that, they are all playing like they are still in their prime or reasonably competitive. This gets to a point where they delay retirement talks for as long as they possibly can.

Notable examples are Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr, and Aric Almirola from the NASCAR arena. Others include F1 star Fernando Alonso, and football icons, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Even Sebastian Vettel, who had only just retired last year, has been rumored to come out of retirement to compete in endurance racing. Finally, there was Kimi Raikkonen, who walked away from Formula One. However, he did come back last year and this year, to compete in one-off NASCAR races. So it just goes to show that Denny Hamlin can stick around in NASCAR for as long as he wants, as long as he is competitive.

WATCH THIS STORY: Denny Hamlin Warns Bubba Wallace to Watch Out Amid Creeping Playoff Desperation