Dropping the Hammer: Denny Hamlin’s Reinvention

Denny Hamlin is not getting any younger.

At 44 years old, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is now the oldest full-time competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series.

As the last two weeks have shown — in a dominating win at Martinsville Speedway and an at-the-buzzer victory at Darlington Raceway — Hamlin’s still got it.

Just how much of it is left in the tank is unknown, but even Hamlin admits it’s not 2005 anymore.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I’m not going to win these races on raw talent anymore,” Hamlin said after Darlington, his 56th career win. “I’m going to have to outwork people. I’m going to have to look at things that maybe other people aren’t looking at.”

That hard work includes being active in the Toyota simulator, a technological tool that didn’t even exist when Hamlin first broke into the sports two decades ago.

According to his boss, Hamlin’s the driver who uses it the most.

“One of the things about going in the sim, it’s hard work,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “Honestly, I think Denny is in the sim as much as anybody we have, any of the young guys. Stays after it.”

Gibbs recalled two years ago when the series made its annual trip to Watkins Glen International, the track where he’s earned his only road course win (2016).

“He struggled road racing,” Gibbs said. “They went as far as putting other setups on his car. That guy went to work in the sim and worked as hard as he could. He sat on three poles in road racing [that season].”

While he didn’t win, Hamlin took the pole at Sonoma Raceway, the Chicago street course and Watkins Glen.

“You get somebody that age that still has the drive to get it done, I think Denny has a real drive, and I think we’re fortunate to have him,” Gibbs said.

Hamlin’s not just devoting hours of sim work to improve the odds for the No. 11 team. He’s in it for all four of JGR’s cars.

 “I’ll be back in there tomorrow, working on this racetrack, working on tires, things like that,” Hamlin said. “I’m doing it for every team. … I put a lot of work in. It’s not just for myself. It’s for the benefit of all Joe Gibbs Racing. They reap the benefits of the work that I put in through the week.”

In the week leading up to Darlington, Hamlin was the first driver into the simulator, said Gibbs, despite everything else he has to deal with in a week.

“When you think about all he’s got on his plate, too,” Gibbs said. “Denny’s owner of 23XI [Racing], all of that. He can lead our group, really goes after it. I think this week was a huge deal for us in that our young guys, they went into the sim after he was through getting it straightened out.”

Why spend that much time in a virtual racecar?

Because Hamlin is a self-admitted “control freak.”

“I only trust myself to do it. I don’t know why,” said Hamlin, who wants “to have everything absolutely perfect.”

Hamlin said “I enjoy the process of being good at” the simulator.

On this week’s episode of his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin shared how he’s had to evolve even at the tracks he’s historically been good at, like Martinsville.

A few year ago, his former teammate Martin Truex Jr. was the hot hand at the short track and was regularly passing him in practice.

After getting out of the car, he looked at Truex’s SMT data to see what he was doing differently. Hamlin then decided to drive like Truex. With that choice, he had to alter what he would ask of his team in order to make the car better.

Said Hamlin on Sunday, “I’ve learned to win it more with my mind than I have with my talent.”