Denny Hamlin is still full of surprises.
Last week, the driver of the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing went down to Hall County, Georgia and shocked the 5th-grade class at Lanier Elementary School taught by Ansley Smallwood. Known on social media as “theracingteacher_ga,” Smallwood uses NASCAR to teach her students about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
While Smallwood was going over the points standings on Thursday, Oct. 22, Hamlin walked into the classroom, causing a few kids to jump out of their seats and scream with excitement.
Through one of his primary sponsors, Progressive Insurance, Hamlin gave a $10,000 grant to Smallwood’s class and Lanier Elementary, and fulfilled her Amazon wishlist full of supplies to help
her and the students. Hamlin did a Q&A with the students — he said the best question was, “Who wrecks the most?” — took some photos and signed some autographs.
“It's been quite a few years since I went to a classroom. They were very excited, that’s for sure,” Hamlin told USA TODAY Sports. “They definitely are bought into who their favorite driver is, and each one of the kids has a certain driver that they're either assigned to or root for each week.
“Ms. Smallwood has been doing this, kind of immersing her class into racing and teaching them about it through STEM, for quite a few years. When I walked in there for the first time, seeing all the racing memorabilia and stuff, it's very cool to see how immersed it was.”
A video of Hamlin surprising Smallwood’s class went viral, showing that the oldest active driver in the top-level Cup Series still has a few tricks up his sleeve and can deploy the element of surprise.
Hamlin's journey for Chase win
The question now is, with two races to go, can Hamlin shock NASCAR and win his first championship?
Asked before this past weekend’s race at Talladega what the 46-year-old driver needed to do to secure the title, Hamlin said, “I think we need to be good in one race and great in the other two. I think that that's going to be the path for us. So, we're hoping the good one is (at Talladega) and that'll allow us to be great in the final two and then get it done.”
Despite two chaotic wrecks, Hamlin survived Talladega with an eighth-place finish. However, Kyle Larson won the YellaWood 500 and padded his lead atop the standings. With trips to Martinsville and Homestead remaining, Larson has a 73-point lead over Hamlin in the postseason Chase.
Larson could clinch the championship this weekend at Martinsville if circumstances break the right way. But if Hamlin wins — something he’s done more at Martinsville than any other active driver, taking six checkered flags at the iconic short track — he could go into Homestead with a chance to upset Larson.
If a DNF in last year’s fall race at Martinsville is removed from the equation, Hamlin has an average finish of 4.4 there since the fall of 2022 across seven races.
“Winning is what we're thinking about when we go to that track,” Hamlin said. “We have a lot of confidence going there. There's not another track on the schedule where we know what we can do when we get there. The past history would certainly support that. I've got so many races around there that I've got a great notebook on it.”
Alongside perhaps only Mark Martin, Hamlin is arguably NASCAR’s greatest driver to never win a championship. His time to check off that ultimate accomplishment in his career seems to be running out, as he has hinted numerous times that he will likely retire after next season, when his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires.
If Hamlin can pull it off, he would be just the fourth JGR driver to win a championship — joining Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch — and the first since 2019.
“It’s certainly up to us drivers to deliver that championship to Joe and Toyota because they've certainly had what we feel like is the best cars all year, and we want to capitalize on that,” Hamlin said. “Those are strong tracks for us that we can go out there and race for a win.”
Aside from winning a championship, there’s not much else Hamlin hasn’t done in NASCAR. He’s taken checkered flags in four races this season — including a streak of three in a row — to push him to 64 career Cup Series wins, good enough for ninth all-time. He’s won three Daytona 500s, three Southern 500s, the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022, and has twice taken the victory in the all-star race.
Hamlin is the all-time wins leader at two tracks, Pocono and Kansas. In 2023, he was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers and is no doubt a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's also now an owner in the sport, co-owning Cup Series team 23XI Racing with NBA legend Michael Jordan.
But a championship still eludes him. In the old playoff format last season, Hamlin was leading by a wide margin with four laps to go when a caution came out. After pit stops, Hamlin couldn’t make up enough ground in the overtime restart and lost the championship to Larson.
In the new Chase format, Hamlin — who was the regular season champion — still mathematically has a chance. Ms. Smallwood’s class has probably broken down all the numbers and scenarios already in which Hamlin can still capture the title.
To keep those hopes alive going into Homestead, it all starts with Martinsville, where Hamlin is going to need to be at his very best.
“The intensity of the Chase has forced everyone to bring their best every single week,” Hamlin said. “At Martinsville, there's unique ways of finding speed there that are a little bit unorthodox from other racetracks. I followed some of the greats around that track for many laps, so I figured it out.
“We have to score a massive day. It’s our job to go get it.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denny Hamlin is still full of surprises. Can he win the NASCAR championship?
