As Denny Hamlin sat at the dais in the Daytona International Speedway media center, a photo recalling the history he hopes to achieve hung on the wall to his immediate left.
It was a Victory Lane shot of NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough, holding the Harley J. Earl Award the earned by winning the 1977 DAYTONA 500.
Yarborough, who died in December at age 84, won the Great American Race four times, second only to the seven victories achieved by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty.
Hamlin, one of four drivers to have won back-to-back DAYTONA 500s—the others being Yarborough, Petty and Sterling Marlin—will make his fourth attempt to match Yarborough’s win total in Sunday’s race (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The most significant hole in Hamlin’s all-but-certain Hall-of-Fame resume is the lack of a series championship, but the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota would be loath to pick between a fourth DAYTONA 500 and a title.
“By the outside views, this is the pinnacle of our sport,” Hamlin said on Wednesday during DAYTONA 500 media day. “The championship is decided in one race, just like this is decided in one race. I’m not really sure. It just depends on whose perspective it might be. But certainly, with the championship getting a smaller and smaller sample size, I view them very similarly.”
To win a fourth 500, Hamlin believes he’ll have to approach the race in a more self-centered way, rather than relying on the help of teammates or fellow Toyota drivers.
“I think it’s in my best interest in getting back to basics, and that’s doing what I feel is best to win the race for myself,” Hamlin explained. “While having teammates is great, and they are certainly assets to use in certain situations to win races, I think sometimes it’s those who are the most selfish, that make moves for themselves, are those who win the race.
“Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) had no teammates last year. He won the race. We’ve certainly had our fair share of moments when we’ve had to pick between a move with a teammate made versus a move someone else made, and I deemed the other person made the right move…
“Still, you want to help your teammates as much as you can, as you’ll need those allies throughout the race and certainly during it. But I feel I need to personally go back to the style I had a few years ago, and we’ll see what the results say.”
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