Denny Hamlin: ‘It’s hard not to’ put Kyle Busch on Mount Rushmore of drivers

It’s evident Denny Hamlin has an immense amount of respect for his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in Kyle Busch.

The duo led JGR together for a myriad of seasons, until Busch left the team for Richard Childress Racing, beginning with last season’s campaign. However, Hamlin’s respect for the two-time champion hasn’t fallen, as he explained earlier this week that Busch deserves to be on the Mt. Rushmore of NASCAR drivers.

“What should our expectations be for Kyle Busch? This is one of, I mean the guy — right now, he’s got 60-something wins. It’s hard for me not to put him on the Mt. Rushmore of NASCAR drivers,” Hamlin stated, via his Actions Detrimental podcast. “Now there’s others coming down the line. The Kyle Larsons, what happens with Joey from now until the end of his career, how many wins does he rack up? There’s others coming that could potentially get a big win total, but there ain’t many, if any, that’s going to catch Kyle Busch.

“So what should our — are we tempering our expectations of Kyle because he’s with RCR? Do we just have a tainted feeling — why? They’re a Chevy P1 team. They get all the same information that the Hendrick teams get.”

That’s a pretty big statement from Hamlin, putting Busch up there with the all-time greats. When you really look at the stats the two-time champion has put up in his career though, it’s easy to see why the Richard Childress Racing wheelman deserves his flowers.

In other Hamlin-Busch news, the one thing that’s eluded the two-time champion is a Daytona 500 victory, which is the opposite of Hamlin’s career-arc. However, Hamlin thinks it’s Kyle Busch’s turn in 2024. 

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. Hamlin added that if he doesn’t win this weekend, 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.” 

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. 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.” 

That would certainly cement Kyle Busch’s status as one of the all-time greats. Time will tell if he can get the job done, but Denny Hamlin will also be pining for a win in this weekend’s race. We’ll see who comes across the finish line first.