“I just can’t imagine there’s a win bigger for me than this one,” said Denny Hamlin after snatching his 60th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Though he led just nine laps, the timing of those gave him his sixth win of the season and tied him with Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time wins list. At 44, with 60 wins, Hamlin now stares down Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s 76 victories. But despite this magnificent milestone, why won’t Hamlin call himself elite?

What hits harder, though, is how Hamlin carries that weight into year 20, still sharp as his 2010 runner-up bid. With three Daytona 500s and a playoff spot every year since 2014, and with only 16 Cup race wins behind “The Intimidator,” Hamlin has already built a legacy for himself, but he still finds himself “not one o

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