Kyle Petty claims Denny Hamlin ‘will never win’ the cup title if he can’t triumph in 2023

Denny Hamlin is the winningest driver with no championships.


Kyle Petty claims Denny Hamlin ‘will never win’ the cup title if he can’t triumph in 2023

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty (Via IMAGO)

Former NASCAR driver and NBC Sports analyst Kyle Petty has said that if Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin, who is in flying form this year, fails to win the 2023 Cup title, he won’t win it again. Richard Petty’s son believes Hamlin will end his career as the winningest non-championship winning driver if 2023 isn’t his year.  

The 23XI Racing co-owner is currently the winningest driver without a win (51), as he recently surpassed Hall Of Famer Mark Martin. Hamlin is among the most consistent playoff drivers in the sport’s history. He, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch hold the record for most R-12 appearances (9). Despite the deep playoff runs, his chase often ends in chaotic final races.

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Petty claimed that 2023 is Hamlin’s final shot at victory, as he would never be able to get his confidence back once this opportunity slips out of his hands. He told NBC, “Listen if he doesn’t win this year, go ahead and mark it down; he’s never going to win because he’s in that place in his head that he can take it all this year and take it big.”

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The 2023 season so far has been promising for Hamlin. He has been the leading Toyota driver behind Martin Truex Jr. before the playoff started, and after R-16, he has solidified the spot. He was a contender for wins in all three races of the first round post-season, and if not for bad luck that has always been an issue for him, he would have won Kansas and Darlington alongside Bristol.

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Kyle Petty explains the biggest weakness of Denny Hamlin

The No:11 Toyota Camry team is notorious for their pit-stop mishaps. More often than not, Denny Hamlin’s playoff eliminations are self-inflicted woes and are the product of botched pit-stops stops or pitlane speeding.

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Credits: @Joegibsracing/Twitter)

Highlighting this massive weakness of Hamlin before giving no more title win verdict, Petty pointed out that the veteran needs to clean his pitlane game, and if he can do it, no driver can match him. He believes the TRD driver can dominate the playoff as Tony Stewart used to do if he can erase the weakness.

“His only weakness is Pit Road; finding it, getting off of it, leaving his pits, getting into his pit, speeding, that’s his only weakness. If he can clean that up, he could walk off like we saw Tony Stewart do a few years ago. He could come through these playoffs and never be touched because I don’t think anybody’s laid a glove on him yet,” Petty said.

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