LAS VEGAS — With tears in his eyes and needing a moment to compose himself, Denny Hamlin collected his sixth checkered flag of the season and reflected on everything it meant.
The victory in a playoff race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the 60th of his NASCAR Cup Series career — a lifetime goal he dedicated to his ailing father — and it gave Hamlin the first of the four title-eligible spots in the season finale Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner with more Cup Series career wins than any driver not to win a championship, will be racing for the title at the end of the season for the first time since 2021. The all-time wins leader for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, the 44-year-old Virginia driver is tied with the retired Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time list of Cup Series wins.
Hamlin couldn’t hold back the tears after a frantic final 10-lap drive to run down Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson and then JGR teammate Chase Briscoe. Two weeks ago, he thought he had his 60th win locked up at Kansas Speedway and was bitterly disappointed to come up short and mentioned letting down his ailing father.
He made good on it two weeks later at Las Vegas in what may be the most important win of his career. He said the win was for his 75-year-old father, who also was rooting for his son to hit the 60-win mark.