Denny Hamlin can inch closer to his first NASCAR Cup Series championship with a stellar performance at Las Vegas.
Luckily for Hamlin, his track record at 1.5-mile ovals in 2026 has been incredible. Hamlin won at the spring Las Vegas race and hasn’t finished worse than fourth at the intermediates. That fourth-place finish came at the first Kansas race of the year, and Hamlin has since taken second at Texas and third at Charlotte, Chicagoland, and the second Kansas race.
Do the math, and Hamlin has an average finish of 2.67 at the 1.5-mile intermediate tracks. That’s over three places better than the second-ranked driver on the list, William Byron, whose average finish sits at 6.3.
Denny Hamlin Finds Himself In Good Company
Per NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola, “…his 2.67 average finish is tied with Jimmie Johnson in 2005 and Bobby Labonte in 1999 for the best ever through the first six 1.5-mile races of a season. He has also spent 83% of the laps run on those tracks inside the top five. He just lives there.”
Neither Labonte nor Johnson went on to win the championship in the seasons they dominated at the 1.5-mile races, but they’re still great company for Hamlin. Interestingly, Labonte and Johnson each won the championship the following season in 2000 and 2006, respectively.
DeCola also noted that “His (Hamlin’s) eight-race streak of top-five finishes on 1.5-mile tracks, dating to Kansas last fall, is the longest active streak and matches Johnson’s 2004-05 run among some of the best such stretches in NASCAR history.”
So Hamlin also has a chance to pass one of NASCAR’s most legendary drivers. If he keeps up the pace he’s currently driving at, Hamlin will remain a strong contender in the Chase. Even if Hamlin’s streak ends and he picks up a decent finish with a good haul of stage points, he could still call the upcoming race a successful one.
Hamlin Is Carrying Momentum Into Las Vegas And So Is Kyle Larson
Hamlin is light-years ahead of points leader Kyle Larson at the 1.5-mile tracks in terms of average finish. However, Larson, whose average finish is 13.8 at the intermediates, won last Sunday at Kansas. Still, Larson has run into trouble, finishing 34th at Texas and Chicagoland.
Larson also doesn’t boast consecutive top-five finishes at the intermediate ovals this season. The closest he came was at the first Las Vegas and Kansas races, where he finished seventh and second, respectively. Looking at overall consistency, Hamlin holds the edge over Larson.
Hamlin Isn’t The Only Driver Bringing A Stellar Track Record To Vegas
As mentioned earlier, William Byron has also been incredible at the 1.5-mile tracks this season. Byron hasn’t won any races at the 1.5-mile intermediates, but he hasn’t finished outside the top 10.
While he’s 12th in points, he’s also not one to count out in Vegas. Byron took third at the first Las Vegas race and is coming off a seventh-place finish last week. His lowest finish at the 1.5-mile tracks came at Charlotte, when he took ninth.
Byron will contend, and so will his teammate Kyle Larson. But Hamlin has both drivers and the rest of the field beaten in consistency. If Hamlin keeps up that consistency this weekend, the Chase will get even more interesting.
Denny Hamlin Brings Remarkable NASCAR Streak Into Las Vegas