Denny Hamlin joked that he is the 'king of irraཧtional confidence' after returning to victory lane in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville.

Hamlin put in a dominant performance in the seventh round of the season, leading𝓰 more than half of the 400 laps in ꦕthe #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to win the race by nearly five seconds.

It marked the Florida-born driver’s sixth victory at༒ the 0.5-mile short track, but his first at the venue since 2015. It was also his first triumph with new crew chief Chris Gayle, who took over the running of the car at the start of the year.

Hamlin is now 44 years old and had to address questions about retirement at ꦏthe end of the 2024 season in which he finished eighth in the standings with three wins.

Asked if there was ever a point in the last 12 months when he thought he would not be able to score another win, he said: “No. I mean, I probably am the king of irrational conဣfidence.

“I mean I know that when I got the car to do it, I can be the best, so…
 
“I haven’t felt like I’ve held back the car at any point. Certainly, I’m not immune to understanding that Father Time is undefeated.
 
“Everything that I need to be good to be a race car🍰 driver is still really sharp. I feel like it hasn’t happened yet. It will, but not yet.”

Ham🌊lin’s Martinsville success marked his 55th career victory in the Cup Series, putting him level with Rusty Wallace in the list of NASCAR drivers with most race wins.

The JGR driver, who also co-owns 23XI Racing, admitted t🐬hat he values each victory more now that he is in the twilight years of his 🍨career.

“Yes, that’s a big one for sure. Certainly, you learn to ap♏preciate them a little bit more,” he said.

“I don’t know when you’re just in your 30s or something, you got such a long runway ahead of you, you’re always thinking about, ‘we’ll go win next week, the week after that, the week after that.’
 
“Certainly however many races I’m going to win between now and the end, I’m going to value them just a little bit more just from perspective, from wisdom that you have, understanding the value of it, how hard it is to do. I don’t always have my kids here. I think it’s been a few years since they were in Victory Lane.
 
“Having it all come back at this track, where it was 10 years ago, 55, where Rusty Wallace got his ౠ55th. I’ll have time to let all that sꦆtuff digest, but in the moment it’s really awesome.”

During his post-race celebrations,𝐆 Hamlin hꦍeld up a flag that read ‘11 against the world’ - the pictures of which circulated widely on social media.

Asked to explain the meaning behind that flag, he said: “My buddies, my Ohio State fans tဣhat I hung out with at the end of last year, we always had the ‘Ohio State against the world’. So now it’s ’11 against the world’.”