How Denny Hamlin and Max Verstappen both pulled off the unthinkable

Every sport has that one athlete whom everybody chooses to cheer against. For most, it's their attitude or the way they play the game. In motorsport, though, it's usually based on the fact that a particular driver just keeps winning, followed by those other common traits.

Max Verstappen finished Formula 1's ground effect era in 2025 with more wins, pole positions and podiums respectively than any other constructor. That run included his record-breaking 2023 season, when he scored the most wins in a single season, the longest ever winning streak, the most podium finishes, and the largest point gap between first and second, among many more records.

From the middle part of the 2022 season at the latest, Verstappen was the most hated driver in the sport. Coupled with winning almost every week, his aggressive driving style and personality prone to outbursts on and off the track made him a contentious topic.

Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, has been NASCAR's ultimate villain for the better part of half a decade, and he has had a rocky relationship with the fanbase since the end of 2017, when he controversially clashed with the sport's most popular driver, Chase Elliott, at Martinsville Speedway.

Coupled with winning a lot of races every year, and his own aggressive style, Hamlin is also very outspoken, constantly challenging and calling out other drivers, and even NASCAR themselves. It has led to him being labeled a hypocrite from time to time. To his credit, he has embraced that role by trolling the fans in any way possible, hence his classic "I beat your favorite driver" post-victory taunt.

The end of 2025 marked a significant change in the fanbase's perception of both drivers.

People have dunked on Hamlin for not having a championship to his name, despite being a top driver virtually every year since 2006. It is the only blemish on his Hall of Fame resume, on which he has the most wins of any driver without a championship.

But, for what is probably the first time ever, Hamlin wasn't being clowned by the fanbase following his seventh championship finale defeat in 2025. Rather, his loss was met with anger, apprehension, and sympathy, after he led 208 of 312 laps and lost the title on the final wave of pit stops to Kyle Larson, effectively ending the controversial playoff format as we knew it.

Hamlin led the Cup Series with six victories in 2025, and he was just a few miles away from a seventh, a championship clincher, but it still wasn't enough. Add in the fact that Hamlin's father, Dennis Hamlin, was battling serious illness and had likely had his last chance to see his son finish the job, it just meant that much more to everybody.

Since then, Hamlin, along with his 23XI Racing team co-owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan, took down NASCAR in a heated and emotional antitrust court case surrounding the sport's latest charter agreement, before his father tragically passed away in an off-season house fire, which also injured his mother, Mary Lou.

It's been a very, very testing few months for the Hamlin family, and the fans can feel that. Even if he's someone you hate, he's still a person with real feelings, and a life to live. It has rightfully put many back on his side.

Fans had also taken a liking to him not only as a driver, but as a sporting advocate. People respect that he is winning races in his mid-40s, while also doing his best to hold the entire industry accountable. While he embraces being hated, he's also trying to better the sport, even when he won't be driving much longer. Those two aspects, potentially more than all, have earned him admiration.

In similar on-track fashion, Verstappen also turned many of his haters into supporters in relatively short order.

When Verstappen won just two of the opening 15 races of 2025 and trailed the championship lead by 104 points, most were just glad to see fresh faces in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri going for the world championship.

As he quickly and incredibly continued to cut his deficit week by week, the fans slowly but surely started to root for the Dutchman in his efforts for a historic turnaround that ultimately fell short by just two points.

In the end, Verstappen, like Hamlin, led all drivers with eight victories, eight pole positions, and scored a podium finish in the final 10 races of the year, despite not driving the dominant McLaren that won the constructor championship with nearly double the points of the second place team.

Not only did the fans fall in love with his championship challenge, but they also fell in love with seeing greatness right in front of their eyes, just like NASCAR fans did with Hamlin. Seeing Verstappen fight McLaren, while they struggled with what was essentially a soap opera of team orders, firmly established why Verstappen is the best driver on the grid. Everyone wants to see the best drivers win, anyways.

His constant, subtle, jabbing comments towards the McLaren drivers as the season wound down also made him more endearing to the fanbase, whereas previously, he would've earned himself even more hate for the same remarks.

The same goes for Hamlin, whose critical comments about the sport and other drivers today earn him praise, something that couldn't be said even a year ago.

As they often say, "you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Bizarrely, both Verstappen and Hamlin flipped that script in their favor at the same time, in almost identical ways, in vastly different forms of motorsport. In turn, they both erased the misconception that nobody remembers who finishes second.

Among all the storylines heading into each series' 2026 season, the two most interesting drivers to follow will be Verstappen and Hamlin, as they bid for championship glory yet again, amid whatever reaction awaits this time around.