FANTASY NASCAR Racin

an American race car driver. Hamlin began his racing career in 1988, at the age of 7 years old, racing go-karts. In 2002, he won ten Late Model races, and surpassed that in 2003 with 25 wins, and 30 poles, out of 36 races. In 2004, while competing full time in Late Model Stock Cars, Hamlin was signed to a driver development contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. He made his Xfinity Series debut at Darlington in 2004. He started twenty-seventh when qualifying was rained out, but finished eighth in the #18 Joe Gibbs Driven Performance Oil Chevrolet. Hamlin ran the full season in 2005 after he replaced Mike Bliss in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series. He ended up finishing 5th in the final championship points standings as a rookie in that series, with 11 top 10's. Hamlin also ran his first NASCAR Cup Series races in 2005, making his Cup debut at Kansas Speedway as driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet, after Jason Leffler was released, and made seven starts in in the Cup series in 2005. In his first start he would have a great qualifying run and pull off from seventh place. But finished

32nd, two laps down. He finished the Cup season with three top 10 finishes in those seven starts and one pole. In 2006, Hamlin ran his first full season in the NASCAR Cup Series, and during the year he drove in both the Monster Cup and Xfinity Series full-time. In Hamlin's first restrictor plate race as a Cup driver, he beat all the previous year's (2005 season) pole winners in the 70-lap 2006 Budweiser Shootout. Hamlin became the first Rookie of the Year candidate to take home the Shootout victory. On June 11, Hamlin scored his first career Cup Series win at the Pocono 500, where he also won his second career pole. He achieved his second career win on July 23, in the Pennsylvania 500 also at Pocono Raceway becoming only

the 2nd rookie in Cup history to sweep both races at a track during the same season. He continued driving the #11 car in the Cup series in 2009, as well as sharing the #20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series. Hamlin won his fifth career race at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2009. Hamlin boldly stated at the final restart "I'm going to win this race." He followed through on the statement, moving from sixth to first and snapping a 50 race win-less streak. The win was Hamlin's third at Pocono. On January 22, 2010, Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee while playing basketball. The decision was made to postpone his surgery until after the season. Hamlin announced on March 27, 2010 to have surgery on

his left knee the following Monday. On March 29, 2010, Hamlin won the rain-postponed race at Martinsville Speedway in wild fashion. He beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, and Jeff Gordon to the finish line. Two days later, Hamlin had knee surgery to repair the torn ligament in his left knee. On April 19, 2010, just three weeks after his surgery, Hamlin worked his way from a 28th starting spot to restart 2nd with 13 laps to go at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin was later able to pass Jeff Burton on the outside and hold off Jimmie Johnson to get his 10th career win and his second win in three races. He was also able to claim a Southern 500 victory at Darlington Hamlin made the Chase in the 2010 season, and coming into the final race he was leading Jimmy Johnson by 15 points. Hamlin finished 14th in the final event, while

Johnson finished second, and won the championship. Hamlin only posted one win in 2011; but put his car in victory lane a whopping five times in 2012. 2013 Saw a rough start for Hamlin as he and Joey Logano crashed each other coming to the checkered flag in the fifth race of the season. Hamlin broke his back and would miss four races. 2014 saw the new Chase format when the top four who advance race heads up for the Championship. Denny advanced to the final race; but he didn't have anything for Harvick and Newman who finished first and second in the race. Hamlin finished seventh in the race; and thus third in the Cup Championship. 2015 was another successful season and Hamlin posted two wins and 14 top five finishes. He but he only managed a ninth place finish in the points. 2016 was even better as he got three wins,

including the season opening Daytona 500. He ended up sixth in the points. 2017 proved to be an interesting year. Hamlin got off to a slow start finishing 17th at Daytona and 38th at Atlanta. He didn't post his first Top 5 finish until Richmond (race #9); then only one more through Pocono (race #14). Hamlin finally got a win mid-way through the season at Loudon NH. He got the win in the Southern 500 after a strategy play. The final yellow came on lap 266 of the 367 lap race. Hamlin gambled and made three pit stops while all the other teams opted for two. When he came in to pit, he missed pit road and had to make another trip around the track. Hamlin was fast on his new tires and 20+ second behind the leader

lap in the race. But his new tires was making up ground quick. He had almost caught up with Martin Truex who was leading; when Truex blew a tire and got into the wall as Hamlin swept by into the lead and onto the win. Hamlin qualified for the Chase and his season seemed to have turned around. He advanced through every round of the Chase up to Homestead. At the start of the third round (Martinsville); he ran well and near the end of the race had a dust-up with Chase Elliott. Elliott was leading with three laps to go and as they entered turn #3 Hamlin just drove up the rear of Elliott's car; putting him into the wall. Several cars slipped by Hamlin and he ended up finishing seventh. After the race Elliott pinned Hamlin up against the outside wall and got to confront Hamlin about his

dirty driving. Hamlin claimed it was an accident; and that the car behind Hamlin had shoved him into Elliott. Video evidence later proved that was a lie and no car was even close to Hamlin when he wrecked Elliott. The drivers were interviewed on TV afterwards and as Hamlin was talking a chorus of boos rained down on him. When Elliott was interviewed the fans cheered as if he'd won the race. Two weeks later (Phoenix) Hamlin had the best car all day and looked to have the best shot of winning and advancing to Homestead. Elliott also had a good car and again Hamlin and Elliott had a dust-up. Elliott was faster than Hamlin at the time; but he kept blocking Elliott. Chase got inside of Hamlin and he tried to cut down on Elliott; and his tire developed a slow leak because of hitting Elliott's exhaust. A few laps later Hamlin crashed, to the loud cheers of the fans. SO neither drive advanced to the Chase finale'.

Hamlin returned to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018; but by all accounts, 2018 was a disappointing season for Hamlin. He had at won least one race for twelve consecutive seasons; however this season he went win-less; finishing second at Dover and Martinsville. He made the Chase via points; but was eliminated after the first round. 2019 started rough for the Joe Gibbs Racing team. Joe Gibbs son JD passed away in January following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease. JD was Co-Founder and Co-Charman of JGR. The teams put an emphasis on racing this season to honor JD. Hamlin got things started with a bang when he broke his 47 race win less streak and claimed the win in the Daytona 500. It was also the first

Cup win for his new Crew Chief Chris Gabehart. Hamlin started the season strong as he posted a worst finish of 11th during the seasons first nine races. He got his second win of the season at Texas. He struggle a bit mid-season post a lot of finishes between eighth and 15th. But he broke through with another win at Pocono in the seasons 21st race; then just three races later won again at Bristol. He faired well as the rounds of the Chase progressed adding a win at Kansas to advance to round three; and made a great run at Phoenix to win and move him into the Championship race at Homestead. He won the pole and the team had high hopes; but at the drop of the green Kevin Harvick took the lead and Hamlin never saw the lead until lap 168; and then only for two laps. As the race ran to it's conclusion Hamlin's car lost it's handle and was

never again competitive with a shot to win. He ended the race in tenth place and fourth in the points standings. Team mate Kyle Busch would go on to claim the 2019 Championship with his two other team mate of Martin Truex and Erik Jones finishing second and third. Hamlin was back with JGR in 2020. Hamlin and Kevin Harvick dominated the 2020 race season. Hamlin claimed seven wins; while Harvick got nine. They won 44% of the races ran. Hamlin once again kicked off the season winning the Daytona 500; defending his win from 2019. Five weeks later he won at Darlington; and added wins at Homestead and Pocono; and two more before the Chase kicked off. In the Chase he came in with a ton of bonus points from all his wins; and used them to advance all the way to the final Championship race at Phoenix. Of the four drivers in the Chase; Hamlin proved to be the least competitive. He was the only one that didn't lead any laps; although he did finish inside the top four in both stages. Chase Elliott went on to win the 2020

Championship; while Hamlin finished fourth in the race and the points. In 2021, Hamlin’s season got off to a good start as he finishing on the lead lap in the first nine races; and had eight Top 5 finishes. He ran well, but he couldn’t manage to put the car in victory lane. He looked to be a lock to win the regular season championship; but Kyle Larson put on a late charge and ended up being the regular season champ. When the playoffs started; Hamlin won a Darlington; the first race of Round one and his first win of the season. When Round two started; Hamlin again won that race. He managed to get through Round three to make the Championship race. At Phoenix he looked to have a great short run car; but it faded the longer the run

went. Hamlin never managed to lead a lap in the race and just didn’t have a strong enough car to compete for the title. Hamlin started the 2022 season with a 37th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. Despite scoring a win at Richmond, he struggled throughout the first 12 races. His win at Richmond came after a great pit strategy call; as his car wasn't fast there either. He either crashed out or had mechanical issues four of the first nine races. On April 26, NASCAR announced that Hamlin would be mandated to go to sensitivity training due to a tweet that Hamlin had made. The tweet made fun of Kyle Larson's block on Kurt Busch on the final lap of the 2022 GEICO 500. The clip that featured an Asian woman driving poorly by not using her turn signals and changing lanes, causing a big

accident. The tweet stirred up controversy as Larson was Japanese American. Hamlin scored his second win of the season at the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. He won at Pocono, but was disqualified and the #11 team was served an L1 penalty after a post-race inspection revealed an alteration to the car's front fascia. It was revealed that the lower corners and wheel openings of the front fascia were wrapped with a layer of clear vinyl that was not removed prior to the application of the paint scheme wrap, resulting in a slight irregularity in the car's dimensions. Hamlin became the first NASCAR Cup Series winner to be disqualified since 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis was stripped of his win at Wilson Speedway for an oversized

fuel tank. Kyle Busch finished second and was also disqualified for the same modification. When the Chase for the championship started Hamlin seemed to flip a switch and suddenly he was very competitive. At Darlington he finished second and added a second at Kansas. He closed out round one with a ninth at Bristol. Good finished in the second round easily advanced him to the third round. But even though he didn't have a finish worse than seventh in the round of eight, Ross Chastain passed enough cars on the final lap to advance himself and knock Hamlin out of a chance to run for the Championship. Hamlin will be back

with JGR in 2023. Hamlin finished fifth in season points. Hamlin had a good 2023. Through the first 13 races he completed every lap of every event. He got his first win at Kansas. It was a competitive race that saw 37 lead changes. Kyle Larson was leading coming off turn two on the final lap, Hamlin rear-ended him and put him into the outside wall to be able to make the pass for the win. Hamlin has become less and less liked on the NASCAR series over the last couple years due to actions such as this, and boos reigned down on him in the winners circle. He won for the second time in 2023 at Pocono.

Again it was Larson leading as the laps wound down. Hamlin kept trying to get by Larson; and finally as they exited turn two, Hamlin got inside of Larson and shoved him into the outside wall again. When the playoffs started Hamlin finished 25th at Darlington. But he rebounded and was second at Kansas, and he won the race at Bristol. A fifth and third place finish as the Round of 12 opened saw him advance to the Round of 8. At Homestead he had a mechanical issue and crashed. He came into Martinsville in a must win situation; He finished third and was eliminated. He finished eighth the final race at Phoenix and fifth in season points. He made one start in the Xfinity Series; coming at Darlington. He started second but led the final three laps to get the win. He will be back with JGR in 2024. As of the start of 2024, he has ran 650 Cup races with 51 wins, 222 Top 5 and 340 Top 10 finishes in 18 seasons. He has won such major events as: Southern 500 (2010, 2017, 2021); Daytona 500 (2016, 2019, 2020); and Coke 600 (2022). He also has 18 wins in the Xfinity series in 164 starts and two wins in the Truck series in 16 starts. Some info from Wikipedia

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

JAMES DENNIS ALAN "DENNY" HAMLIN - 11/18/1980