Hamlin Beats The Heat For Third In 700th Cup Start

Denny Hamlin (11) battles Chase Briscoe at Nashville Superspeedway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

LEBANON, Tenn. – Denny Hamlin was feeling the heat in the Music City, both figuratively and literally, but still brought home a third-place finish in his 700th NASCAR Cup Series start on Sunday night.

Despite entering the weekend at Nashville Superspeedway on baby watch, with fiancé Jordan Fish in the hospital and Ryan Truex on standby, Hamlin drove every lap of the Cracker Barrel 400 and earned a stage win in the first segment along the way.

The podium result and 53-point total haul – second most in the field – was a much needed move in the right direction for Hamlin, who hadn’t even scored a top 15 since five races ago at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and had dropped from second to sixth in the regular season standings as a result.

Not Sunday, however, as his No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE started second, led 79 laps, and averaged running right where he ultimately finished – third place.

Hamlin improved to fourth in points with his Nashville performance, locked into the Cup Series playoffs with his two wins from earlier in the year at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, respectively.

But it was a momentous milestone for Hamlin, who became just the 22nd driver to achieve 700 Cup Series starts, dating back to 2005 at Kansas Speedway in the same Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 he still drives today. He’s the second to do so this season, joining Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson.

Hamlin has racked up many accolades in his 21 years and 700 races in the Cup Series, including 56 wins, which puts him 11th on the series’ all-time wins list.

Sunday may be remembered as being one of those quietly impressive runs, however, as during the race Hamlin lost use of the cooling hose in his helmet and had the in-car drink system fail, causing hydration troubles as the temperature in his car rose throughout.

“[The car] was hot,” referenced Hamlin afterward. “I don’t run a cool shirt or anything like that, so that’s three elements the other drivers had that I didn’t have. So yeah, I got hot. I had the helmet visor up there, to try to get a little air in.”

As for his long-term battle to try and keep up with eventual race winner Ryan Blaney and runner-up Carson Hocevar, Hamlin tipped his pace over the extended runs just wasn’t where he needed it.

“I just couldn't run with the 12 there in the super long run,” Hamlin explained. “For 40 laps I could maintain with him, but after that he just pulled away and would stretch it on us.

“Our best strategy at that point was to go long, and you either catch a caution or another caution comes. We all were going to stay out so the lap times didn’t fall off, and then we got fresher tires. We got jumped by the [No.] 77 [Hocevar] and then the track just went through a really weird phase the last 30 laps where everyone had to pin to the bottom. I think there were not enough cars running in the middle, and it threw dust up in the middle and top lanes so they weren’t an option. It was like ice up there. That definitely hurt the passing.

“But I lost too much grip late. We made [the car] slightly better, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Of note, Hamlin’s third-place finish tied the best mark ever by a driver in their 700th Cup Series start, matching Jeff Gordon’s bronze finish at Darlington in May of 2013.

Hamlin sits as the second highest Joe Gibbs Racing driver in the standings, behind the No. 20 of teammate Christopher Bell, who ranks third in points with three wins of his own.

In what can best be described as a mixed bag of a season so far for Joe Gibbs, Bell and Hamlin have been the clear frontrunners of the team, with Chase Briscoe battling to break into the top 10 in points and the team’s fourth car – driven by Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty Gibbs – languishing in 27th place with just two top 10s in 2025.

JGR is one of the biggest teams in NASCAR, both currently and historically. The team made its Cup Series debut in 1992 with the No. 18, which was the most historic number of the team until it was put into mothballs at the end of the 2022 season.

Gibbs-owned entries have amassed 219 Cup Series wins as a team, as well as 217 wins in NASCAR’s second tier, the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team has also won five driving championships, with their most recent coming in 2019 with Kyle Busch.

Hamlin will chase his 57th win in his 701st start next weekend at Michigan Int’l Speedway, with coverage of the FireKeepers Casino 400 airing Sunday, June 8 at 2 p.m. ET live on Prime Video, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.