Denny Hamlin Soaks in “Bittersweet” Feeling After Falling Short of ‘NASCAR Grand Slam’ Legacy

Denny Hamlin has carried out gorgeous about the entirety there is to construct in NASCAR. Three Daytona wins, 58 Cup Series victories, and one of many sport’s sharpest minds both in the support of the wheel and on the pit field. He’s no longer gorgeous a driver anymore; he’s a crew proprietor, a mentor, a strategist, and in many suggestions, a up-to-the-minute face of the game. However on your entire checkered flags and ancient moments, there’s one field he’s by no methodology been in a position to tick.

Certain, Denny Hamlin still hasn’t won a coveted title, equivalent of a ‘Big Slam’ of the tennis world. And his nemesis? The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Brickyard has consistently been that elusive puzzle fragment in his decorated career. And in 2025, while the walk at final did terminate with a Hamlin celebration of kinds, the feelings weren’t exactly what you’d expect. As for this one? It hit diverse, for causes handiest Hamlin took to expose.

The Brickyard highlights Denny Hamlin’s quest for NASCAR’s Big Slam

Denny Hamlin’s spectacular NASCAR career is marked by many iconic victories and milestones. Yet, there stays one elusive fulfillment — The NASCAR Big Slam. To total the Big Slam, a driver need to glean all four Crown Jewel races: the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, the Brickyard 400, and the Southern 500. Hamlin, who has already won three of these, still has the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on his unfinished checklist.

Reflecting on the 2025 Brickyard 400, Hamlin candidly shared the bittersweet feelings he skilled staring at 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace explain the ancient victory. “It’s no longer my automobile number and it sucks that it’s no longer my crew 11 available doing it, however I’m still very cheerful because, honestly, I took our chances of winning out the day long gone by,” Hamlin acknowledged. His qualifying location used to be a fundamental component in these slim probabilities.

Hamlin started the Brickyard 400 walk support of the sector after crashing in qualifying. Naturally, this severely restricted his capacity to contend for the glean on a track identified for its excessive competition. “I knew that there used to be gorgeous the likelihood of winning from the support here used to be so small. Um, and no longer handiest that, I knew the automobile that we had used to be no longer going to be on the subject of uh as rapidly as what we had the day long gone by.” 

Nevertheless, Denny Hamlin settled for a solid third-build enact, a solid brooding about his challenges. He mentioned, “I gorgeous used to be advise material with getting an very good enact after which I hoped that, , one of many 23XI cars that qualified up entrance would possibly possibly well perchance presumably attain an very hiya and it regarded love, , the 23 and forty five done an very hiya.” That performance underscored his consistent competitiveness and crew energy, no topic falling attempting the final prize.

Though Hamlin couldn’t style victory himself, he tasted it passively by capacity of his mentee and 23XI driver Bubba Wallace, who won his first Cup series victory since September 2022. When requested about whether it used to be a bittersweet feeling to survey this assert unfold, Hamlin mentioned, “Yeah. I mean, because I had a impartial in it. I mean, I support mentor these guys and , they’re in my brain every single Monday and Tuesday, form of, , I’m attempting the entirety I will to educate them your entire suggestions in the e book that I in truth have. And so, I know that…I’d blown this opportunity for this weekend in consequence of your entire barriers to confirm up on to glean from the backs, , without good fortune it’s on the subject of most no longer seemingly. So…this used to be the following handiest consequence.”

Within the earlier seasons, too, Denny Hamlin fell attempting winning at Indianapolis. His handiest performances (ending Third) came in 2008, 2014, 2015, and now, 2025. Only a decide few drivers, some of them being Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Allison, and the slack Dale Earnhardt Sr., have done ‘NASCAR’s Big Slam.’

Hamlin’s pursuit of this rare fulfillment provides another compelling layer to his approved career as he continues to tear that final jewel. This bittersweet moment at Indianapolis highlights both the challenges and the legacy still looking forward to completion in Denny Hamlin’s excellent NASCAR story.

Denny Hamlin sets subsequent mission for 23XI Racing

After celebrating Bubba Wallace’s milestone glean on the Brickyard 400, Denny Hamlin staunch now shifted his focal level to the broader goal for the 23XI Racing group. Hamlin emphasised how enormous it would possibly be to land a glean with all three of the crew’s cars in the NASCAR Playoffs this season.

This yr marks the key time 23XI Racing isn’t any longer astray to have two drivers, Wallace and Tyler Reddick, seemingly to clinch playoff berths. That milestone alone speaks volumes about the crew’s rapid instruct since debuting in 2021. However for Hamlin, that’s gorgeous the starting. He mentioned, “Our subsequent impartial is getting a glean with Riley,” and highlighted Daytona as Herbst’s handiest shot given its unpredictability and superspeedway dynamics.

Hamlin’s ambition isn’t gorgeous symbolic. Getting all three drivers, Wallace, Reddick, and Herbst, into the postseason would signal that 23XI has transcended from an upstart crew to a legit championship contender. In line with him, the crew tradition plays a huge impartial: each person pitches in all over all three cars, fostering solidarity that he believes sets them rather than older, siloed operations.

He moreover reaffirmed his self perception in Wallace’s playoff upside. After making his first postseason accelerate in 2023 and now delivering for 2025, Hamlin mentioned he’s even extra unpleasant this yr. Encouraged by Wallace’s maturity and backed by crew chief Charles Denike, a gentle U.S. Navy officer whose disciplined management has impressed both Hamlin and Michael Jordan, 23XI is aiming to lengthen its momentum deep into the playoffs.

With the upright drama surrounding charter residing still unresolved, the stress is on. However a 3-automobile playoff lineup and a first victory for Herbst would possibly possibly well perchance presumably point out as solid evidence that 23XI’s future is extra salvage than ever. The following few weeks will issue gorgeous how crucial their championship aspirations was, both in the level to and future.