James Dennis Alan "Denny" Hamlin (born November 18, 1980 in Chesterfield, Virginia)
 is an American race car driver. Currently, he drives the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Career

Racing before NASCAR
Hamlin started his racing career in 1988, at the age of 7 years old, racing Go-Karts. At the age of 16, he was racing Ministocks. In his first stock car race, at Langley Speedway, Hamlin won the pole position, and won the race. In 2004, while racing full-time in Late Model Stock Cars, Hamlin was signed to a development program  with Joe Gibbs Racing.

NASCAR career

2004-2006 
In 2004, Hamlin raced in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) races with the team EJP Racing. He finished tenth in his first race, at Indianopolis Raceway Park. He ran his first  ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing third in the #10 Pontiac owned by Andy Hillenburg. His last start of the year came at Darlington Raceway, when he started his first Busch Series race. He started twenty-seventh but finished eighth in the #18 Joe Gibbs Driven Performance Oil Chevrolet.

Hamlin raced the full season in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet in the Busch Series. He finished 5th in the final championship points standings as a rookie in that series.  Hamlin also raced in his first Nextel Cup Series races in 2005, making his Cup first start at Kansas Speedway as driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet. He made seven starts in the Sprint Cup series in 2005. He finished the Sprint Cup season with three top 10 finishes in seven starts and one pole at Phoenix International Raceway.

In 2006, Hamlin raced his first full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. He also drove in the Busch Series full-time. In Hamlin's first race as a Nextel Cup driver, he won the 70-lap 2006 Budweiser Shootout. Hamlin became the first Rookie to win the Budweiser Shootout. Hamlin got his first career Busch Series win at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on March 5th 2006. On June 11 2006, Hamlin won his first career Nextel Cup Series race at the Pocono 500.  He got his second career win on July 23, in the Pennsylvania 500, also at Pocono Raceway. In the Nextel Cup Series, Hamlin won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award and finished third in the final standings.

2007-2008
In 2007 Denny Hamlin finished 12th overall in the final standings in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In the Nationwide Series, Hamlin won three races, Darlington, Michigan, and Dover in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevy.

In 2008, Hamlin finished 8th in the Sprint Cup Series and won early in the season at Martinsville Speedway. He won three races in the Nationwide Series, driving both the #18 and #20 cars for Joe Gibbs Racing, as well as the #32 Dollar General/Haas Avocados car for Braun Racing.

2009

In 2009 Hamlin won his fifth career race at Pocono Raceway on August 3, 2009. The win was Hamlin's third at Pocono. It was an emotional win for Hamlin as his grandmother, Thelma Clark, died the Friday before the race.

Hamlin also won races at Martinsville Speedway, his home track Richmond International Raceway, and the last race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamlin ended the season 5th in the Sprint Cup Series points.

2010

On January 22, 2010, Denny Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing basketball. 
On March 27, 2010 Hamlin said he was going to have surgery on his left knee the next Monday. If he did not have the surgery, his knee would have been injured worse.

Three weeks after his surgery on April 19, 2010, Hamlin won the race at Texas Motor Speedway. It was the 10th win of his career.

Later in the season Hamlin finished 43rd in a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This was the first time that Denny Hamlin finished last in a race. This race moved Hamlin into 10th place in the Sprint Cup Series points, and made sure he would have a place in the championship race. Denny Hamlin won 8 races in the 2010 Sprint Cup Series but finished the season 2nd in Sprint Cup Series points behind Jimmie Johnson.

2011
After a strong second place finish in 2010, 2011 was not a very good year for Denny Hamlin. Hamlin had mechanical problems many times in 2011, and this hurt his chances at finishing well in the points. Hamlin only won one race in 2011, and finished the season 9th in the points standing.

References

Other websites 
Denny Hamlin's official website
Joe Gibbs Racing's Official Denny Hamlin Website 

American racecar drivers
Sportspeople from Virginia
1980 births
Living people
NASCAR drivers