Race week is finally here. The Daytona 500 is right around the corner and Denny Hamlin has come out swinging with a bold prediction. Three times in his NASCAR career, Hamlin has won The Great American Race, and now he thinks it is Kyle Busch’s turn.
Much like a former RCR driver who tried for years to win the Daytona 500, Rowdy has spent the last 20 years trying to accomplish the feat. He has two championships, more than 60 wins, and could be considered one of the greatest to ever race a stock car. Still, Busch is missing one trophy from his case.
Denny Hamlin has three Harley J. Earl trophies, so he knows a thing or two about Daytona. On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said if he doesn’t win, he believes it is his former teammate’s turn to take the checkered flag.
“I’m not saying me. I know I’m going to win, but if I don’t I have a bold prediction,” Hamlin told his cohost Jared. “Kyle Busch wins his first Daytona 500.”
While Hamlin isn’t sure what to make of Busch’s success at RCR right now, he just has a feeling that the driver is going to win the Daytona 500.
“Like Kyle Busch. I don’t know what to do with Kyle Busch. I sat here, look what I wrote down, says ‘Busch wins Daytona.’ That’s just a gut thing, I write it down.”
Last year, Busch led on lap 200. If it was the old days, before overtime, he would have won the race. Unfortunately for him, restarts and a wreck kept him from glory.
Denny Hamlin searching fourth Daytona 500 win
Of course, Denny Hamlin wants his prediction to be wrong. He would like to find Victory Lane again and earn his fourth Daytona 500 victory. There are only two drivers in the history of NASCAR to win The Great American Race four times.
With one more Daytona victory, Hamlin will join Cale Yarborough for second-most in NASCAR history. Yarborough’s first and fourth wins were 16 years apart from one another. Hamlin’s first win came in 2016 and his second and third victories were in 2019 and 2020.
Then you have the all-time Daytona 500 wins leader, Richard “The King” Petty. Petty drove his way to seven victories in the biggest NASCAR race of the year. Denny might have enough time to catch up to or even beat Yarborough’s mark. However, King Richard will likely always hold the most wins.
Denny Hamlin has it all. He’s won over 50 races. In his career, he has won almost everything there is to win in the Cup Series. He just needs a championship at this point. Although winning a fourth Daytona 500 might be just as good as winning the Cup Series title.
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