Why the last two races prove how strong Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team can be

The way he got there may have been different, but the last two races ended the same for Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin.

One week removed from leading a race-high 274 of the 400 laps at Martinsville, the 44-year-old only led 10 laps in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington. The end result, though, was a second consecutive win and another reminder to never count the veteran out of any race.

Until debris from Brad Keselowski's right rear lug nut coming off on Lap 138, Hamlin was not much of a factor on Sunday at Darlington, failing to place inside the top 10 during Stage 1. Due to the timing of the caution during a green-flag pit cycle, Hamlin restarted third on Lap 144 of 293 and remained in contention the rest of the way.

He was going to finish no better than third behind Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick until Kyle Larson spun down the backstretch to bring out the final caution and send the race into NASCAR Overtime. 

Despite coming onto pit road in third for four fresh tires, Hamlin's pit crew excelled and got their driver out first with a blistering stop in the South Carolina heat, ahead of Reddick, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron and Blaney.

From there, Hamlin did the rest, getting an excellent launch in the restart zone and pulling away to win by 0.5 seconds over Byron. Hamlin passed NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time wins list with 56 career victories. With his 10th win in the Next Gen Car, Hamlin joined Larson (14), Byron (12) and JGR teammate Christopher Bell (11) as the only drivers with 10 or more wins with the car, per NASCAR Insights.

Byron led a race-high 243 laps while Blaney chased down Reddick and appeared to be on his way to his first win of the season at Darlington. With a little luck on his side from the Larson spin and excellent work by his pit crew, Hamlin stole the win away and once again showed no signs of slowing down with his tenacity behind the wheel.

He proved he can take over a race and dominate like he did at Martinsville. On Sunday, his team got him off pit road first and he capitalized on a day he did not have the fastest car at Darlington.

Before the Cup Series sits idle for Easter weekend, Bristol Motor Speedway - a track Hamlin has four wins at and is the defending spring race winner - awaits on Sunday. In his last five races on the high banks of Bristol, Hamlin has a pair of wins in which he led more than 100 laps in each and five top 10s. It is not out of the question that Hamlin joins Bell as a winner of three straight races this season.

If driver and team continue to put a complete effort together, there is nothing slowing the No. 11 team down at the moment, which could be dangerous for the rest of the competition.