NASCAR Cup Series star Denny Hamlin has smashed a Cup Series record after 10 races of the 2026 season.
However, he should be furious about it, with it revealing one glaring weakness of his year so far.
Hamlin has led 603 laps through the opening 10 rounds of the campaign, 104 more than his nearest rival, Kyle Larson, and in the process, he's also set a new record.
Hamlin's total laps led is the highest of any Cup Series driver in the next-gen era through the opening 10 races of a season, with Kyle Larson's 531 in 2024 having previously set the standard.
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Denny Hamlin will be furious despite NASCAR record
The statistic shows that the speed has clearly been there for the No. 11 team at Joe Gibbs Racing so far this year, but at the same time, Hamlin will be furious.
For all that domination, the driver of the No. 11 has just one Cup Series victory so far this year. So that's 21% of laps led so far this season, but only a 10% win rate.
Indeed, while leading laps is never a bad thing, winning is the most important, and there's no better example of that than Tyler Reddick.
The 23XI star sits fifth in terms of laps led so far this year, having been out front for just 201 laps, or 7.2% of the action so far in 2026. Yet, he has five race victories under his belt and a 50% win rate.
The most recent of those came at Kansas, where Hamlin looked on for a win, only for the race to go to overtime, where Reddick excelled and put his car in Victory Lane, while Hamlin came home fourth.
| Position | Driver | Laps Led | Laps Led % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | 603 | 21.5% |
| 2 | Kyle Larson | 499 | 19.1% |
| 3 | Christopher Bell | 303 | 10.9% |
| 4 | Ryan Blaney | 244 | 8.9% |
| 5 | Tyler Reddick | 201 | 7.2% |
| 6 | Brad Keselowski | 156 | 5.6% |
| 7 | Joey Logano | 115 | 4.3% |
| 8 | Chase Elliott | 109 | 3.9% |
| 9 | Bubba Wallace | 89 | 3.4% |
| 10 | Chris Buescher | 68 | 2.4% |
| 11 | Chase Briscoe | 65 | 2.5% |
| 12 | Ty Gibbs | 60 | 2.3% |
| 13 | Ross Chastain | 52 | 1.9% |
| 14 | William Byron | 34 | 1.3% |
| 15 | Carson Hocevar | 31 | 1.1% |
| 16 | Austin Cindric | 26 | 1% |
| 17 | Ryan Preece | 25 | 0.9% |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | 19 | 0.7% |
| 19 | John H. Nemechek | 19 | 0.7% |
| 20 | Michael McDowell | 16 | 0.6% |
| 21 | Josh Berry | 15 | 0.6% |
| 22 | Zane Smith | 10 | 0.4% |
| 23 | Chad Finchum | 8 | 1.9% |
| 24 | Corey Heim | 8 | 1.7% |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 6 | 0.2% |
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NASCAR Cup Series standings after Talladega
Naturally, it's Reddick who leads the way in the latest Cup Series standings after his red-hot start, and it is Hamlin in second.
However, even at this early stage, Reddick's advantage over the Joe Gibbs Racing star sits at 110 points.
| Pos | Driver | Manufacturer | Points (Stage) | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Reddick | Toyota | 484 (78) | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 374 (83) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 344 (87) | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 340 (48) | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 322 (59) | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 6 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 315 (91) | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 309 (58) | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Carson Hocevar | Chevrolet | 292 (42) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 290 (73) | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 279 (42) | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 277 (55) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 12 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 276 (71) | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 | Ryan Preece | Ford | 269 (37) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Daniel Suárez | Chevrolet | 235 (26) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | Joey Logano | Ford | 234 (54) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | Austin Cindric | Ford | 226 (49) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | Chase Briscoe | Toyota | 222 (32) | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 205 (22) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Shane van Gisbergen | Chevrolet | 195 (24) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 | Zane Smith | Ford | 183 (11) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 21 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 183 (15) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Todd Gilliland | Ford | 181 (19) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 179 (19) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 163 (8) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Chevrolet | 161 (11) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 161 (0) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 | Kyle Busch | Chevrolet | 160 (11) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 | Josh Berry | Ford | 147 (30) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | Riley Herbst | Toyota | 144 (9) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | Noah Gragson | Ford | 144 (4) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 | John H. Nemechek | Toyota | 141 (14) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 123 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Connor Zilisch | Chevrolet | 103 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Cole Custer | Chevrolet | 89 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 85 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 80 (10) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 37 | Casey Mears | Ford | 9 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | BJ McLeod | Chevrolet | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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