Freddie Kraft, Mike Forde react to emotional Denny Hamlin earning 60th Cup win at Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin notched his 60th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series at Las Vegas this past weekend. As the dust settles on the moment, Freddie Kraft and Mike Forde shared their thoughts on the veteran wheelman’s emotional moment, discussing the weight of the accomplishment on the latest episode of Door Bumper Clear.

“I think he’s mentioned his dad in some interviews, and there’s some stuff there that’s, you know, driving him to really want to get this win,” Kraft explained. “You saw some of that emotion after the Kansas race, which I don’t want to talk about anymore ever again. But yeah, I mean, this one means a lot to him. It’s 60 — 60 wins locks you into the final four, still chasing the elusive championship.”

Forde echoed that sentiment, noting the personal motivation behind Hamlin’s victory: “I don’t want to speculate on how his dad’s doing, but obviously that was probably the reason,” Forde said. “You know, Denny’s — I saw Ryan McGee, who has as good a pulse on NASCAR and its history as anyone, and he mentioned that with yesterday’s win, Denny has clearly cemented himself as the best to never win a championship.

“Now we’ll see what happens in Phoenix, because you don’t want to bet against him — especially this year, when he’s taken a page out of the Michael Jordan handbook. His business partner, you know, he treats every slight personally, and he steps up and wins the big one.”

Alas, you can tell there’s immense respect for Hamlin from Kraft and Forde. After the wheelman’s big win in Sin City, Hamlin elaborated on the emotion behind the moment. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver reflected on his family’s sacrifices and the impact of his father, who’s been struggling with health issues.

“Yeah, just not doing well, not feeling well. He’s the one that got me into racing,” Hamlin said after the race. “Just took me to a racetrack when I was five. Then made all the sacrifices financially to keep me going. Sold everything they had. We almost lost our house a couple times. Just tried to keep it all going. So, I’m glad he was able to see 60. That was super important to me.”

Of course, drivers can’t choose when or where their wins come, but Hamlin’s 60th victory felt like something out of a storybook: “I don’t know if I could have scripted it better,” he admitted. “I don’t know, like a win at Talladega for 60 would still be awesome, but not like this. Not in the fashion I had to do it in the last 10 laps.

“This race — I talked about it before the weekend started, just how important this race was. I thought this was the most important.”

Whether or not Hamlin’s victory in Las Vegas becomes a defining chapter in his pursuit of a long-awaited championship, it was a moment that reminded everyone why he’s one of NASCAR’s all-time greats. He’s hit No. 60, and the veteran wheelman is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

— On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.