Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes bold statement on Denny Hamlin vs. Joey Logano, Kyle Larson

This past Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway was NASCAR Cup Series win No. 57 in the career of Denny Hamlin. The future Hall of Famer is just three wins away from 60, a historic milestone.

Only 10 drivers have won 60 or more Cup races. At 44 and still at the top of his game, Hamlin surely will get to 60. He might even get there this season. But will Hamlin be the last to get there? Dale Earnhardt Jr. examined the top candidates during Tuesday’s “Dale Jr. Download.” In Earnhardt’s mind, only two drivers have a shot: Joey Logano and Kyle Larson. Earnhardt, however, believes that both will need to stay in a top ride over the next 5-10 years.

“Logano is 35 years old and has 37 wins. Logano, in my opinion, is the only one that could probably get there. Larson could do it,” Earnhardt said. “The only thing is, is Larson and Joey have to stay in the Championship-winning cars to get to that number. That’s the problem. If something happens — there’s new drivers coming in, always the next best thing and the greatest guy — as long as you don’t become the B or the C driver at the great teams, as long as Joey and Larson are in Championship cars, which that sounds crazy to think they’ll never be but you just never know what might happen in five, 10 years.

“Larson might not want to race that long, you just don’t know. He might race till he’s 60, who knows? He might win 80 races.”

Kyle Petty makes extremely bold claim on Denny Hamlin’s career

Logano, the three-time Cup champion, is the closest active driver to 60. Logano has 37 Cup victories. 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski is next with 36, followed by 2021 Cup champion Larson with 32. Both Logano, 35, and Larson, 32, are young enough that 60 could be a possibility. 

Like Earnhardt, Kyle Petty had his say on this topic. Petty sees Hamlin as the last driver to ever reach 60 wins.

“Joey Logano fans are going to hate me, and Kyle Larson fans are going to hate me,” Petty said. “But I’m going to say this, Joey Logano is 35 and has 37 wins. He has to win the same amount of races in the next nine years that he won in the previous nine years. That’s 18 years producing at the highest level. That is almost impossible to maintain that for that long a period of time. I know Kyle Larson is 32 and has won 32 races. And yes, he’s with Hendrick. That’s on his side, I’ll give him that.

“When we look at [the organizations with four-car teams], they steal wins from each other. It’s hard for an individual driver to put up those numbers. Denny Hamlin continues to get it done. … Denny Hamlin is one of the greatest drivers to ever step foot in a Cup car. I don’t care whether he wins a Championship. I don’t care what he does for the rest of his career. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer, he’s going to go down in history and he may be — I say he is — the last guy to 60.”