MARTINSVILLE, Va. — “It felt,” Denny Hamlin was saying about an hour after his mild blue-and-white Toyota took the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway, “just like the previous, previous days.”
Previous can imply a lot round Hamlin, who at age 44 was the oldest winner at NASCAR’s oldest observe since a 47-year-old Rusty Wallace received for the ultimate time in his Cup profession in 2004. On this case, previous was an excellent factor. It was a return to successful.
NASCAR: Cup Observe and Qualifying
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Joe Gibbs Racing driver holds off teammate Christopher Bell for his series-leading sixth victory at observe.
Whereas Sunday marked Hamlin’s sixth Cup victory at this historic half-mile observe, it was his first right here since March 2015 — a span of three,654 days.
“Ten years in the past at present, I had by no means made a NASCAR begin in my life,’’ stated 30-year-old Christopher Bell, who completed second to Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.
Ten years in the past, Chase Elliott was making his Cup debut in that race Hamlin received. He completed fourth Sunday.
Hamlin returned Sunday to the driving force who challenged — and typically beat — Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at this observe once they had been the dominant drivers.
NASCAR: NASCAR Cup Sequence Race at Martinsville
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It was an emotional win for Denny Hamlin, who ended a 10-year winless drought at his home-state observe.
Hamlin led 274 of the 400 laps Sunday. Solely two different occasions had he led extra laps at Martinsville.
Hamlin had been good at this observe lately — he had eight top-five finishes right here since 2019 — however he wasn’t the most effective.
“It simply was aggravating to be the subsequent greatest at this observe for the final 5 years, by no means having ‘it,’” Hamlin stated after his fifty fifth profession Cup victory, which tied Wallace for eleventh on the all-time record.
“The ‘it” is like the power to regulate a race, run as quick as you want to to steer the race and draw back once you need. Right this moment we had ‘it.’”
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Simply as forecasted by Chris Gabehart, who had been Hamlin’s crew chief till changing into the competitors director at Joe Gibbs Racing after final season.
Gabehart leaned into he window of Hamlin’s automobile and instructed the driving force simply moments earlier than the vehicles pulled on to the observe Sunday that he would win at present.
“I acquired it at present,” Gabehart stated of this explicit feeling. “It’s you.”
NASCAR: NASCAR Cup Sequence Race at Martinsville
The Joe Gibbs Racing star is tied with Rusty Wallace with 55 profession victories in Cup.
Hamlin stated that when Gabehart would say that within the 2019-20 seasons that “I just about knew that he had a bullet of a race automobile that he constructed and we had been in all probability going to win that race.”
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However Hamlin had been cautious of Gabehart’s emotions lately as a result of they hadn’t at all times led to wins. Whereas Hamlin felt good about his automobile after Saturday’s apply, he knew there was extra work wanted.
“We didn’t have the most effective automobile,” Hamlin stated. “We simply did not. However I simply had some type of feeling that the route we had been going is the suitable means.”
It led him again to Victory Lane, a spot he had not been to since April 2024 at Dover. He had gone 31 races with no win earlier than Sunday.
Hamlin is attending to an age when drivers cease successful. Martin Truex Jr., who stopped competing in Cup full-time after final season, final received in 2023 at age 43. Johnson, a seven-time champion, final received a Cup race in 2017 at age 41. Gordon, a four-time champion scored his last Cup victory — which got here at Martinsville in November 2015 — when he was 43 years previous.
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Did Hamlin ever fear his successful days had been over?
“I in all probability am the king of irrational confidence,” he stated. “I imply, usually talking, I do know that after I acquired the automobile to do it, I will be the most effective, so I have not felt like I’ve held again the automobile at any level. Definitely I am not proof against understanding that Father Time is undefeated.
“All the pieces that I should be good to be a race automobile driver remains to be actually sharp. I really feel prefer it hasn’t occurred but. It’ll, however not but.”
