Denny Hamlin celebrates being inducted into NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers by grabbing the pole position at Talladega

Denny Hamlin is one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers, with 48 career Cup Series victories, including three historic Harley J. Earl trophies from the Daytona 500.

To celebrate his new accomplishment, he went ahead and grabbed the pole position at Talladega Superspeedway. Hamlin took the pole position with a lap of 180.751 mph. Aric Almirola will join him in the front row.

Denny Hamlin is certainly one of NASCAR's 75 greatest drivers, having won three Daytona 500s, another in the Coca-Cola 600, three in the Southern 500, and 41 more in the Cup Series. Even without a title to his name, the Virginian will almost certainly be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he gets eligible.

Since joining the Cup Series full-time in 2006, Hamlin has won one or more races in 16 of 18 seasons and has placed in the top five in the points standings eight times. His premier series victory total is 16th all-time, equalling Herb Thomas and third among full-time active drivers, following only Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

One of his most notable accomplishments is entering the ranks of the few successful driver-owners in the sport. Bubba Wallace, Kurt Busch, and Tyler Reddick are the organization's full-time drivers. Hamlin and NBA great Michael Jordan have collaborated to establish 23XI Racing for the 2020 Cup Series season.

While his glittering professional life has many chapters, Hamlin's tale is still being written as he pursues his first Cup Series victory. In three of the previous five years, he has advanced to Championship 4 and finished runner-up in the final 2010 rankings.

The 42-year-old has won in all three NASCAR national levels, including 17 Xfinity Series triumphs, 64 top-five finishes, and 100 top tens, as well as two Craftsman Truck Series victories.

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Christopher Bell reveals Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch's secret ritual

NASCAR Cup Series 63rd Annual Daytona 500 Practice

Christopher Bell's victory at Bristol Motor Speedway was his sixth. In fact, Bell has 26 top-five finishes and 49 top-10 finishes to his credit. Given his trajectory and ability, the 28-year-old has the potential to do more in the future. However, one thing that will undoubtedly keep him motivated is JGR's post-win routine.

Bell describes the JGR routine that takes place on the Monday following every race win.

"They [JGR] have what they call a banner ceremony. For anyone that hasn’t been to Joe Gibbs Racing, up on the top of the race shop, there’s a banner for every single win that the company’s had. So, I think it’s at like 1:30 in the afternoon or something like that, right after lunch. Everyone gathers there and the winning driver gets to go up and raise a banner,” he said.

On the good side, efforts from Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, and Erik Jones have aided the #20 banners. While Bell has a chance at JGR, he misses Busch's presence.