Denny Hamlin continues to ascend the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list, and he continues to do so as the winningest non-champion in the history of the series.
Now with 60 wins, he is far clear of the second-highest driver in that category, and only 10 other drivers, all champions, have earned 60 or more victories.
Among past drivers, who are the best non-champions in the history of the sport? Here are our top 10.
NOTE: Active drivers, such as Hamlin, are not included in this list.
Top 10 non-champions in NASCAR history
10. Speedy Thompson
Speedy Thompson finished in third place in the point standings for four consecutive seasons to wrap up the 1950s, but he could never achieve higher.
During his 14-year career, he had six winning seasons, and he won multiple races in each of those six season for a total of 20 in 197 starts, including a career-high eight in 1956.
He was perhaps best known for wrecking Herb Thomas toward the end of that season, a move many theorized came at the request of team owner Carl Kiekhaefer to help Buck Baker win the championship. The wreck would all but end Thomas' Hall of Fame career.
9. Fonty Flock
Fonty Flock's relatively short nine-year career was highlighted by his incredible 1951 season, during which he scored 13 poles, led 2,068 of the 2,827 laps he ran, and secured eight victories en route to a career-high runner-up finish in the championship standings.
He would go on to add three more multi-win seasons and two more finishes inside the top five in the standings, but he never became champion. He finished his career with 19 victories.
8. Ricky Rudd
Ricky Rudd simply found ways to win. He was never particularly flashy, winning 23 of 906 races across 33 years, but he at one point went on a winning streak of 16 consecutive seasons, despite winning no more than two races in any single season. That streak is tied for the fourth longest ever, trailing only the streaks of Kyle Busch, Richard Petty, and David Pearson.
That incredible consistency led to 17 finishes inside the top 10 in the championship standings, including a career-high runner-up finish in 1991 behind only the great Dale Earnhardt. Again, not flashy, but you simply do not see the kind of career Rudd had anymore.
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. For as much as NASCAR fans might want to believe that Dale Jr. was "overhyped" because of the name Earnhardt, I'd argue that he was actually even more "underrated". Fans wanted him to be as good as his dad, and he obviously never was.
But the fact that he wasn't a 76-time winner and seven-time champion did not make him anywhere close to a bust. He still won 26 races, including two Daytona 500s, and had 11 winning seasons. Had his name not been Earnhardt, nobody would ever dream of calling a driver with his career "overrated".
Sure, he's not in the GOAT debate like Dale Sr. But he's not just a Hall of Famer because of his last name either. And we all know NASCAR robbed him in 2004.
6. Jim Paschal
Among eligible drivers, no driver not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame won more races than Jim Paschal with 25. The two-time World 600 winner is one of NASCAR's forgotten stars, and the fact that he has only once been nominated for the Hall of Fame (2020) indicates that he will likely remain so.
He thrived in an era where many stars did not run the full schedule, and the fact that he never won more than five races in a year kept him relatively under-the-radar.
Still, for a driver who won 25 races and whose career spanned 23 years, you'd think he would get more attention, especially since so many drivers, including some from his era, with fewer wins are already in the Hall of Fame.
5. Fred Lorenzen
Fred Lorenzen, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished his career with 26 wins, and the driver known as the "Golden Boy" did it in just 158 races over 12 years, only once competing in more than half of the races on a season's schedule. That year, 1963, he finished in a career-high third place in the point standings.
The following year, he only ran 16 of 62 races, and he not only won half of them, but he led more than half of the laps (2,375 of 4,426). He added to his legacy the following season by winning the Daytona 500.
4. Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards was one phantom debris caution away from not even being considered for this list, having seemingly had the 2016 championship wrapped up at Homestead-Miami Speedway before ultimately being taken out via contact with fellow Championship 4 driver Joey Logano on a late restart.
Edwards, who lost the 2011 championship on a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart and would be a two-time champion had the playoff format not been implemented in 2004, shockingly retired before the 2017 season.
The 28-time race winner was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame, and fans continue to wonder what might have been, to the point where, even almost nine years later, there are still (unfounded) rumors of his return that emerge every once in a while.
3. Mark Martin
Mark Martin competed in the NASCAR Cup Series in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, and among retired drivers with full-time series experience, he leads all non-champions with 40 victories.
But it's not just the fact that he leads full-timers in that category; it's the fact that he came so close so many times to taking his name off of that list.
On 15 occasions, including 11 years in a row from 1989 to 1999, he finished between second and sixth place in the championship standings. That level of consistency is something that you don't even see among champions these days.
It's no wonder that the four-time series runner-up, even as a non-champion, is among the advocates for the removal (or at least the alteration) of the modern playoff format.
2. Fireball Roberts
I could've gone with Martin here, but that would've been too straightforward, and I might as well have copied and pasted the all-time wins list.
Had Fireball Roberts not had his career cut short due to a fatal crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1964, he probably would be the wins leader among the sport's non-champions. Only twice did he compete in more than half of the season's races, yet he managed to find victory lane 33 times in 206 starts, including at least once in each of his final nine seasons (1956 to 1964).
He won the fourth running of the Daytona 500 in 1962.
1. Junior Johnson
Junior Johnson held the all-time record for most NASCAR Cup Series victories without a championship until Denny Hamlin scored his 51st career victory two years ago.
Should Hamlin manage to return the title of "winningest non-champion" to Johnson, it's a title Johnson will probably keep forever, given the growing feeling that getting to 50 wins might be harder and harder in the modern era of parity.
What's so special about Johnson is the fact that, while he won 50 races, he, like so many other drivers of his day, never actually ran a full Cup Series season. He was a championship-level driver who never finished higher than sixth in points, and he actually only ran more than half the races in seven of his 14 season of competition.
The second annual Daytona 500 winner is one of the all-time greats, not just among non-champions.
Among active drivers who have never won a championship, nobody is even remotely close to Hamlin. William Byron is second on the wins list with 16, and Christopher Bell is the only other driver with more than 10 wins at 13.
While it's relatively obvious the three-time Daytona 500 winner Hamlin would be toward the top of this list if he retires without a championship to his name, would any other active drivers make the cut? More importantly, can Hamlin take himself out of consideration by becoming a champion?