Denny Hamlin has one more NASCAR Cup box to check

The thing Denny Hamlin most wants in the final years of his career as a NASCAR driver is the Cup Series championship.

Hamlin, 45, has chased that goal for decades, coming excruciatingly close to the magic circle but never entering.

Now, with the regular season winding down and Hamlin looking like a decent bet to take the No. 1 seed into the 10-race Chase, he figures to have another very good look at that elusive title. He plans to retire after the 2027 season.

In the meantime, there’s another blank box on Hamlin’s career worksheet, and he has another chance to check that one this week.

Despite scoring 64 career Cup victories and winning all three of the other so-called Crown Jewel races, Hamlin is 0-for-17 in the Brickyard 400, the last remaining race—and a big one—on his want list. Despite all those failures, Hamlin’s compelling season will put him among the favorites in Sunday’s 400-mile race over the world’s most famous race course.

Hamlin has answered endless questions over the years about his lack of a Cup championship. In the eyes of many, he has replaced Mark Martin as the leader in a rather dubious category—best driver to never win a Cup title. Often, in responding to those questions, Hamlin has said, “Yes, I want to get there, and then there’s Indianapolis, too.”

For decades, the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola (earlier World) 600 and Southern 500 were considered the transcendent races on the Cup schedule. In 1994, Indianapolis joined the list of NASCAR tracks with the Brickyard 400, and the track’s history alone pushed it onto the Crown Jewel list.

No active driver has won all four of the races. Hamlin could become the first Sunday. He has won the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 three times each and the Coca-Cola 600 once. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson are the only other active drivers with wins in three of the four events (both lack Daytona).

Hamlin has not been a slouch at Indy, but he hasn’t exactly been a closer, either. Oddly, he has four third-place finishes to go with a fourth and fifth, giving him six top-five runs in 17 tries. He has nine top 10s.

This year seems to be Hamlin’s year. He has won four times, only one shy of Tyler Reddick’s five, and he leads Reddick atop the points by 68. Through 21 races, he has led 863 laps, 309 more than at this point last season and easily the top number among all competitors.

On Sunday, he again pursues another big number—1, at Indianapolis.