NASCAR: Top 5 highest paid Cup Series drivers of 2020
By Asher Fair
Highest paid NASCAR drivers of 2020 – 3. Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin, who drives the #11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, comes in at #3 on this list after earning a total of $14.6 million throughout the 2020 season, of which $13.1 million comes from his salary.
Hamlin has competed for Joe Gibbs Racing throughout his entire NASCAR Cup Series career, which began toward the end of the 2005 season and became a full-time role in 2006.
Hamlin is the only driver on this list who is not a former champion, but he is also the only driver on this list who qualified for the 2020 Championship 4. In fact, he is the only driver in the Cup Series who is set to enter the 2021 season having qualified for both of the last two Championship 4s.
The three-time and two-time defending Daytona 500 winner won seven races in 2020, his highest single-season win total since he won eight races in 2010, and was considered one of the favorites to win the title all season long, but for the second year in a row, he finished in last place among the four championship contenders in the season finale.
Aside from Junior Johnson, who never ran a full season and only ran more than half the schedule seven times in 14 years, Hamlin has won more races (44) than any non-champion in Cup Series history.