“It’s very, very possible”- Denny Hamlin confident of beating Kyle Larson & Chase Elliott to this season’s NASCAR regular season championship

Denny Hamlin recently opened up on whether he thinks he could win the regular season championship this year. Hamlin is currently sitting 4th on the standings table with 42 points to the top.

Ahead of the Joe Gibbs Racing is his own driver at 23XI Racing, Tyler Reddick, over whom is the HMS duo of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

During a press conference ahead of this Sunday's race at Pocono, Hamlin was asked whether there's enough time for him to have a shot at winning the regular season championship. It's worth mentioning that including Pocono, there are six races left in the regular season before the playoffs begin at Atlanta on September 8th.

"I think unless they have problems, it’ll be tough. But everyone is struggling to find consistency, right? We were as consistent as anyone for five weeks and now have had five weeks the exact opposite, so just think, you know, we’ll need help for sure and we’ll need to be as good as we were two months ago, right? As far as execution and finishing positions. It’s very, very possible," Hamlin described. [11:50]

Having said that, he emphasized that the #11 team would need "a few stubbed toes" here and there to win.

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Denny Hamlin opens up on his desire to win more races before retirement

During the same press conference, Denny Hamlin was asked whether records like career wins matter to him. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has 54 wins to his name.

He is currently ranked 12th on the All-Time win list. But if he wins two more races, Hamlin would jump up another spot, surpassing Rusty Wallace at 55 wins. Of the current drivers, Hamlin is only second to Kyle Busch (63 wins), and the active driver next to Hamlin on that list is Brad Keselowski (36 wins).

Speaking about such records, Hamlin claimed that they certainly matter to him.

"Where I’ve shifted my goals in the final years of my career is to try to get to a big win number, get inside the top-10 of all-time winners. That’s the goal I can achieve week in and week out, right? Certainly, always have goals of winning a championship and that goes over a long period of time. But week-to-week, that’s what fuels me to continue to go to the racetrack and do this grind every week, is to try to nail down victories," Hamlin said. [6:45]

The #11 driver added that when all is said and done, regardless of the formats being changed, cars being changed, or the sport entering a new era, wins would "stand as equal." That was the reason why, Hamlin emphasized, he values wins so much.

As for how many wins he ends his career with, or whether he wins a Cup championship after all, that is something only time will tell.