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Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver and team owner Denny Hamlin is one of the most experienced people to currently race in the sport. The start of the 2022 season saw the Tampa, Florida native struggle initially with the Next Gen cars. The 41-year-old, however, quickly found his groove and has two wins to his name so far this year.
Hamlin will be coming into this weekend's Toyota/Save Mart 350 with a possible chance to tick off another statistic in his career that has spanned over 17 years. The 350-mile-long race at Sonoma Raceway presents the 23XI Racing team owner with the chance to tie his all-time win tally with Tony Stewart. Hamlin and Stewart have history at the 2.5-mile-long track when they raced each other back in 2016.
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The #14 Chevrolet driven by Stewart, ran over the #11 Toyota of Hamlin to claim his final victory in the highest echelon in the sport. Hamlin, even after leading the race for 33 laps, had to settle for second. If Hamlin manages to win on Sunday, he could take his career win tally to a total of 49, equalling Stewart.
It remains to be seen if the Joe Gibbs Racing driver can carry his momentum through to this Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 out in California's wine country.
Denny Hamlin's and Tony Stewart's career stats compared
While having their own unique personality and style of racing on the track, all-time career stats portray Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart as quite similar drivers. The most obvious of differences between the two NASCAR legends comes in the form of Stewart retiring in 2016 while Hamlin is still soldiering on in 2022.
A closer inspection reveals, however, that both drivers won the Rookie of the Year award before going on to have 16 seasons with at least one win. Hamlin has managed to score more top-5 finishes from fewer starts than Stewart while equalling the number of top-10s.
The biggest differentiator in both the driver's careers comes in the form of Stewart's 3 Cup Series championship wins. Hamlin, however, somehow manages to even things out with his 3 Daytona 500 wins over Stewart's zero.
It will be interesting to see how the #11 Toyota Camry TRD driver manages to adapt to turning left and right at Sonoma Raceway this Sunday.
