"It's hard to argue the accolades that the others have": Denny Hamlin opens up on feeling “second best” to Jimmie Johnson

Denny Hamlin recently talked about his legacy as compared to drivers of his generation such as Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is ranked 12th in the all-time winners list in NASCAR history with 54 wins to his name. Among active drivers, Hamlin is second to Kyle Busch, who has 63 wins.

Hamlin's peers like Johnson and Busch have been far more successful than him, with Johnson being a 7x Cup champion with 83 wins and Busch being a 2x Cup winner with 63 wins.

Ahead of this Sunday's Brickyard 400, Denny Hamlin was asked by a reporter how often he thinks of his legacy. Hamlin claimed he thinks about it occasionally, and said (via FrontStretch on YouTube),

"You certainly want people to introduce you and things like that. They always kind of give your accolades, so you just want to create a longer introduction for yourself," Hamlin said [at 1:00].

Hamlin was further asked how he would rank himself to drivers of his generation like Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, to which he replied:

"I always felt like I was second best to those guys. Jimmie, in his prime, was just so incredibly hard to beat. While I may have had him once or twice, over the long haul, he still put together more wins, more championships. So I always felt like there's always been someone who had just come in and just be a little bit better than me. Just always been the next," he added.

This left the reporter wondering if Hamlin feels the same way despite winning races at this stage of his career. The #11 driver agreed as he claimed he feels as good as anyone in the garage at present. But despite that, Hamlin mentioned the inarguable nature of his legacy compared to drivers like Johnson.

"I feel like I can win 95% of the weeks if we show up, something that's very, very rare. Certainly right now I feel very comfortable, but it's hard to argue the accolades that the others have against what I have," he opined.

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Denny Hamlin claims he was unlucky to be racing in Jimmie Johnson's era

Amid Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus' NASCAR Hall of Fame induction last year, Denny Hamlin spoke about the former #48 driver and remarked that Johnson and Knaus' combination was "a deadly one" for a long time in NASCAR.

Together as a driver and crew chief, the HMS duo won 83 races, clinching 7 Cup Series championships, 5 of which were in a row, and had 222 top-five finishes. Bearing their stellar record in mind, Denny Hamlin claimed on "Actions Detrimental" that he was unlucky to have been racing in Johnson's era of dominance (as quoted by On3):

"I had to race against them. I always said, I was unfortunate to race in the Jimmie Johnson era, because he was just man, he was a killer. He was a killer in the most polite way," Hamlin said.

The JGR veteran elaborated on Johnson's demeanor while being so successful. Hamlin said Johnson never talked trash and never wrecked into his rivals. He claimed that the 7x Cup champion was simply fast and together, he and Knaus found ways to beat everyone else even when they didn't have the fastest car.