NASCAR: Denny Hamlin takes perfect streak to Richmond
By Asher Fair
Denny Hamlin is still winless through the first eight races of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, but he it taking a perfect streak into today’s race at Richmond Raceway.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin has led the NASCAR Cup Series point standings since after the season’s second race at the Daytona International Speedway road course back in February, and he built on that lead yet again last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway with a third place finish.
However, yet again, the driver of the #11 Toyota came up shy of the victory, despite the fact that he led 276 of the 500 laps of the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia.
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He finished in third place, marking the fourth time he has secured his season-best result this year. Through eight races, he has recorded a series-high seven top 10 finishes, all of which are top five finishes; no other driver has recorded more than four top five finishes. If not for a speeding penalty at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he could very well be eight for eight in that category.
His average finish is a series-best 4.5, which is 4.5 positions better than the second best.
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Hamlin also kept his perfect streak alive in terms of finishing races on the lead lap. Through seven races this season, he was the last man standing as far as completing every lap on the schedule (1,694 for 1,694). After 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway, he is still perfect at 2,194 for 2,194.
He has led 487 of those 2,194 laps, which is the most in the series by over 100 laps and is nearly half of his laps led total from last year, when he won seven races and became the only driver to make it to the last two Championship 4s.
He has now finished on the lead lap in 15 consecutive races going back to the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last September.
The race at Martinsville Speedway was just the second race all season in which the same number of drivers who entered the race having completed every lap of the season completed every lap in the race itself.
At Phoenix Raceway, Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott entered the fifth race of the season having completed every lap, and all three drivers finished on the lead lap on that day as well.
Elliott’s perfect streak ended the following race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Larson’s ended the race after that on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Hamlin’s lead in the point standings is now a whopping 76 points over teammate Martin Truex Jr. (379 to 303), who has won a series-high two races.
Interestingly, Hamlin, who many consider to be one of the greatest drivers to never win a championship, has also never finished a season as the unofficial “points champion” during the playoff era.
So despite not yet winning a race, the 2021 season, his 16th as a full-time Cup Series driver, has arguably been his best yet.
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Will Hamlin keep his perfect streak intact at Richmond Raceway this afternoon in the Toyota Owners 400? He completed 399 of the 400 laps of the race around the four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) oval in Richmond, Virginia last September. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.