“I’ve been around the longest”: Denny Hamlin is dead focused on winning Toyota Racing’s 600th NASCAR win

Denny Hamlin will be looking forward to winning in the Pocono raceway this year and holding on to that victory no matter what. Since his victory from the previous year was taken away a short while after he crossed the finish line first, Denny Hamlin doesn't believe Pocono Raceway owes him anything.

Both he and Kyle Busch, his ex-teammate Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, failed the post-race inspection last year. When the two cars were disassembled and the wrap was taken off for inspection, a tape was discovered on the lower front fascia of both cars. This led to Chase Elliott winning the race who was originally in third place.

Returning again to Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin says he doesn't have any bitter feelings coming back and hopes to win again this year.

When he was asked about how he would feel to win Toyota's 600th NASCAR win, he said (via Dalton Hopkins):

"Certainly I like milestone victories for sure. Toyota has been a big part of my career certainly now part of my race team."

"You wanna have to big milestone victories...if you talk to all the Toyota drivers, they are gonna be very motivated to get it. But I just..uh..I've been around the longest. I certainly wanna have it. "

The next victory, whether it is at Pocono or anywhere else, will be a turning point for Hamlin. The achievement will take him above Hall of Famer and former teammate Tony Stewart and mark his 50th win in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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Why was Denny Hamlin stripped from his 2022 Pocono win?

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway last year. But NASCAR disqualified him and his teammate Kyle Busch in second. Chase Elliott, who finished third, was named as the winner.

But why was the team stripped from their victory?

The then Joe Gibbs teammates were disqualified due to an illegal additional layer of tape applied to each corner of the front facia forward of the wheel openings.

After the disqualification, the team did not appeal the result. Scott Miller, NASCAR's Vice President of Competition, explained why they decided to disqualify the Joe Gibbs duo.

"Just so everyone understands, the fascia is the bottom part of the nose that attaches to the splitter -- the nose is a two-piece affair -- and the lower part is the fascia, It was on the lower fascia, an extra piece of vinyl that in effect deviated the part from the approved CAD files. That's what it was." He said on SiriusXM Radio.

Later Toyota and Joe Gibbs resealed a statement supporting NASCAR's decision and its inspection process.