NASCAR: Denny Hamlin’s perfect record comes to an end

Denny Hamlin’s race at Talladega Superspeedway did not go as he would have liked, ending a perfect streak he had to start the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin entered Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway as the reigning winner at the track, having won the round of 12 playoff race there last October.

Unfortunately, his day did not go as he would have liked it to in the GEICO 500.

After leading several laps he was involved in an early incident that sent the #22 Ford of Team Penske’s Joey Logano flipping and flying through the air. However, Hamlin was able to avoid taking any significant damage. He found himself back at the front shortly thereafter and ended up leading 43 laps, his third consecutive race-high laps led total.

But things went downhill from there, and he could never recover.

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The driver of the #11 Toyota was penalized for speeding in the pits during an ensuing pit stop. While serving his drive-through penalty, he was penalized for the same offense, so he had to come back into the pits and serve another penalty.

Hamlin found himself one lap off the lead lap and in position to get the free pass toward the end of stage two. He was slated to get that free pass as well, as the caution flag flew with just one lap remaining in the second stage. However, he was involved in that accident, so he was not awarded the free pass.

To make matters worse, this time around, his #11 Toyota had sustained significant damage.

When all was said and done, Hamlin completed 188 laps of this race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama.

But the scheduled 188-lap race ended up being a 191-lap event due to a late caution flag period which sent it into overtime, and Hamlin finished in a disappointing — and by far a season-worst — 32nd place.

As a result, he has no longer completed every lap on the 2021 schedule. He entered this race with nine lead-lap finishes through nine races this year. In fact, he entered in on a 16-race streak of completing every lap going back to last September.

Additionally, his 32nd place finish ended his six-race streak of top four finishes, and it ended his six-race streak of top five finishes in superspeedway races going back to his third place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2019.

A total of 2,785 laps have been run through 10 races this season. Hamlin has completed 2,782 of them, which is tied for second place with teammate Kyle Busch.

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon now leads the series in laps completed with 2,783. He finished one lap off the lead lap in the race at the Daytona International Speedway road course, and he did so in the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway as well.

The NASCAR Cup Series is set to be back in action next Sunday, May 2 with the Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.