Why Denny Hamlin's Gateway Win Could Be Step Toward Elusive Title

MADISON, Ill. — Denny Hamlin counts down the number of races he likely has left in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

Assuming that the two-year contract extension he recently signed would be his last, that gives Hamlin 80 more races to win. He sees his win total — which increased to 59 with his playoff victory Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway (known as Gateway) — and sets his goals for victories accordingly.

Under that theory, he would also have started counting down the opportunities left to win that elusive Cup title. That would be three.

Denny Hamlin celebrates after winning Gateway.

But the 44-year-old Hamlin doesn’t look at it like that. He just can’t get himself to count down and set the goal for him to win a championship in the elimination-style format, with the last 11 years having a one-race final round to determine a champion.

"There's certain races that I do have countdowns for," Hamlin said, noting he has not won a Brickyard 400. "Championships isn't one of them. Obviously, it's well-documented that I want to get the wins, and I feel like that will carry its weight long after.

"When you compare me to someone that's maybe got one or two — maybe three championships — and half the wins, I don't think that person's better than I am."

Hamlin led a race-high 75 laps, including the final 25 circuits around the 1.25-mile oval, to capture the victory Sunday and automatically advance to the quarterfinal round (Round of 12) of the NASCAR playoffs.

After Gateway win, Hamlin advances to next round of 2025 NASCAR playoffs.

He entered the race already well on his way to making it to the next round, but the victory allows him to not worry about elimination next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. For the seventh