{"id":312255,"date":"2025-10-18T02:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312255\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T02:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:15:11","slug":"i-dont-believe-he-had-that-cache-and-swagger-kyle-petty-reveals-what-really-elevated-denny-hamlins-status-to-a-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312255\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Don’t Believe He Had That Cache and Swagger”: Kyle Petty Reveals What Really Elevated Denny Hamlin’s Status to A Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The key to success for most individuals in the business world is oftentimes just plain old versatility. The more different hats you can wear\u2014and wear them with aplomb\u2014the more successful you\u2019re likely to become.<\/p>\n

That perfectly describes Denny Hamlin. He was already a great race car driver, but once he became involved in other aspects of the sport to make himself more well-rounded as both a racer and an individual, he took his career and life to the next level.<\/p>\n

Two words best describe Hamlin: Cache and swagger<\/p>\n

Kyle Petty put it perfectly on this week\u2019s \u201cNASCAR Inside The Race\u201d<\/a>post-race show after this past Sunday\u2019s win by Hamlin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Denny became that [so versatile] being with Michael Jordan, being with 23XI [Racing, which he co-owns with Jordan], stepping to a different place, being on a podcast, being as vocal as he has become has elevated him above what his stats are and has enhanced what his stats are,\u201d Petty said. \u201cI don\u2019t think if Denny had continued down the road that he was going that he was going to be the star or the superstar that we want to place him there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these are enhancements that allow him to be that guy. He was just a driver, just kicking butt and taking names, and he was going to get to 60 [wins], but I don\u2019t believe he had that cache, that swagger that he has now that he has on his podcast, that he has because of Michael Jordan and 23XI that he has as an owner. I think he\u2019s moved into a different realm in the last 10 or 12 races that he\u2019s won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the active drivers, only two are ahead of Hamlin in the wins category: seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has 83 wins (but has scaled back to only a handful of races the last few seasons) and Kyle Busch, who has 63 Cup wins\u2014but hasn\u2019t won a race since 2023\u2014a winless streak of 90 races, the longest winning drought of Busch\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe, honestly in all my heart and soul\u2014and until somebody steps up and proves me wrong\u2014that Denny Hamlin is going to be the last guy that plants his flag at 60 [wins].\u201d<\/p>\n

Petty doesn\u2019t think Hamlin is done winning this season<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a caveat to Petty\u2019s statement. \u201cI\u2019m not so sure that 60 is going to be the number that he stops on because I think he\u2019s got more wins left in him,\u201d Petty said.<\/p>\n

And indeed, Hamlin has three more races remaining this season to add to his 60-win total. His most successful season was in 2010, when he earned eight wins. He grabbed seven checkered flags in 2020 and six in 2019, as well as the six he has thus far in this season\u2019s first 33 races.<\/p>\n

With Talladega this Sunday, Martinsville next Sunday, and the Championship 4 title-winning finale just over two weeks from now in Phoenix, there\u2019s a very good chance that Hamlin<\/a> could add three more wins to his 2025 scorecard.<\/p>\n

Even with all his success, Hamlin has yet to win his first Cup championship. But this season could finally be the time the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran achieves that goal. Petty doesn\u2019t care if Hamlin ever wins a Cup crown\u2014but KP means that in a good way, not a derogatory way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care whether he ever wins a championship,\u201d Petty said of Hamlin. \u201cNobody ever talks about Junior Johnson and says, \u2018Hey, he won all these races [50], but he never won a championship\u2019 [although he earned 132 wins and six Cup championships as a team owner]. You talk about Junior Johnson as a driver and an owner, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to talk about Denny Hamlin as a driver and as an owner.\u201d<\/p>\n

It now remains to be seen if 2025 is the year Hamlin can finally add the championship trophy to his collection. With JGR and Toyota\u2019s current form, and the No. 11 driver\u2019s form, it will not be surprising if he manages to do so in a few weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The key to success for most individuals in the business world is oftentimes just plain old versatility. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":312256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[11130,41315,16412,157452,22238,1406,1459,62,132456,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-312255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-denny-hamlin","9":"tag-jimmie-johnson","10":"tag-joe-gibbs-racing","11":"tag-junior-johnson","12":"tag-kyle-busch","13":"tag-nascar","14":"tag-nascar-cup-series","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-talladega-superspeedway","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115392762966950353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}