NASCAR: Denny Hamlin aiming to do what nobody has ever done

No NASCAR driver has ever won the Daytona 500 three years in a row, but Denny Hamlin has a chance to be the first this Sunday.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin held off Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney after a late wreck involving Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman to win the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway for the third time in five years and the second straight NASCAR Cup Series season last February.

Hamlin, who became the 12th driver to win the race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida multiple times in 2019, became the sixth driver to win it at least three times and the fourth driver to win it twice in a row with this victory.

Aside from Hamlin, the five drivers to win the Daytona 500 at least three times in its 62 years of existence are seven-time winner Richard Petty, four-time winner Cale Yarborough and three-time winners Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon. Aside from Hamlin, the three drivers to win it twice in a row are Petty (1973 and 1974), Yarborough (1983 and 1984) and Sterling Marlin (1994 and 1995).

A win in Sunday’s race would make Hamlin the first driver to ever win the “Great American Race” three years in a row.

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After Petty won it in 1973 and 1974, he finished in seventh place in 1975. He led 51 laps, but Benny Parsons took the checkered flag.

After Yarborough won it in 1983 and 1984, he led 32 laps in 1985 before an engine issue knocked him out of the race, and Bill Elliott went on to take the checkered flag for the first of what ended up being two rimes. Then in 1996, after Marlin won it in 1994 and 1995, he led three laps before an engine issue knocked him out, and Jarrett went on to win for the second of what ended up being three times.

Tune in to Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, February 14 for the live broadcast of the 63rd annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. Hamlin’s starting position is set to be determined in this evening’s Bluegreen Vacations Duels, which are set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.