USA TODAY International Edition
Hamlin eyes history with Daytona 3- peat
CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS
In the NASCAR Cup Series seasonopening Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin will have a chance to separate himself in the sport’s history books. He could do something that’s never been done before: win three consecutive Daytona 500 races.
The No. 22 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver is the only active NASCAR driver with more than one Daytona 500 victory, winning in 2016, 2019 and 2020. So in the 2021 race set for Sunday, Hamlin will go for his third consecutive Daytona 500 win and fourth overall.
If he does, Hamlin told For The Win, “It would probably be the most significant win of them all.”
Arguably the best NASCAR driver without a Cup championship on his résumé, Hamlin won his first Daytona 500 in 2016, and he did it in thrilling fashion. Leading a race- high 95 laps, Hamlin took the lead on the final go- round at Daytona International Speedway and beat his now- teammate Martin Truex Jr. by just .010 seconds – the closest Daytona 500 finish in history.
While a second Daytona 500 win is certainly exceptional, for Hamlin and all of Joe Gibbs Racing, winning in 2019 was a particularly special victory. It came just weeks after JGR co- founder and Joe Gibbs’ oldest son, J. D. Gibbs, died at the age of 49 from complications from a degenerative neurological disease, and the team honored J. D. Gibbs throughout the race weekend.
And last season for his second consecutive Daytona 500 win and third overall, Hamlin’s win followed his No. 11 car narrowly missing the horrifying last- lap wreck involving Ryan Newman as the field came down the frontstretch of the 2.5- mile track.
“2016 is hard to replicate on how I won,” Hamlin said. “But I just feel like they’ve all had a special place – the J. D. win two years ago, the way the final lap transpired last year to win.”
With a little less than a week until the 2021 Daytona 500, Hamlin is the favorite to win, according to BetMGM.
He’s already in exclusive company with three Daytona 500 victories – Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Bobby Allison also have three apiece – but a fourth would elevate him to a tie with Cale Yarborough.
However, Hamlin would still have a bit of work to do to catch Richard Petty at the top with seven Daytona 500 wins.
“I just hope to give myself that opportunity at the end of the race,” Hamlin said about not being collected in the kind of multiple- car wrecks the Daytona 500 is famous for. “I hope that I’m around, that I give myself a chance to make history, because ultimately, that’s what I’m here for.”
Don’t count “Mank” out yet. David Fincher’s black- and- white “Citizen Kane” origin story leads the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards with 12 nominations, the Critics Choice Association announced Monday. The Netflix film also led last week’s Golden Globes nominations with six nods, only to stall a day later with just one nomination ( for Gary Oldman as best actor) by the Screen Actors Guild Awards. “Mank” fared far better with critics, and is up for best picture, actor ( Oldman), supporting actress ( Amanda Seyfried) and director ( Fincher), among other categories. The film was trailed closely by Lee Isaac Chung’s Korean American drama “Minari,” which received 10 nominations, including best picture, actor ( Steven Yeun), supporting actress ( Yuh- jung Youn), director and screenplay ( both for Chung).