"I carried it to your bus": Denny Hamlin reminisces about Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 2004 Daytona 500 victory

Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. evoked a strong sense of nostalgia among NASCAR fans as Dale Jr. rolled back the years and reminisced about his maiden Daytona 500 victory. Hamlin also addressed his role in the events from the memorable day.

The NASCAR Hall of Famer recently turned to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share that his wife Amy Earnhardt, had taken on the task of cleaning the Harley J. Earl trophy he won in 2004. Although the trophy appeared pristine, he mentioned that it still retained traces of red Gatorade from his victory celebrations over two decades ago.

"Amy decided to clean up the 2004 Daytona trophy and it still had red Gatorade on it. 20 years. Looks good as new," the caption on his post read.

Reacting to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s throwback post, Denny Hamlin relived the time when he had the honor of carrying the prestigious trophy to Dale Jr.'s bus. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who was yet to make his NASCAR National Series debut at the time, shared a photo of himself standing next to Junior and many others.

"I carried it to your bus shortly after."

Denny Hamlin's acquaintance with Dale Earnhardt Jr. dates back almost two decades when the former was tearing up the late-model racing world in his early 20s.

Dale Jr. had invited Hamlin to the season opener at Daytona and the young late model racer got a chance to share the stage with the victor and carry his trophy.

Hamlin subsequently made his Truck and Xfinity debut later that year and was signed up as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. Having touched the Harley J. Earl trophy Hamlin believed that he had jinxed his chances of winning the prestigious race.

However, the #11 Toyota driver won the event three times, surpassing Dale Jr.'s tally by one triumph.

---

Denny Hamlin reflects on achieving his childhood dream

Announcing FedEx's Ultimate Fan contest, Denny Hamlin reminisced about his early days in racing and how his dreams shaped into reality. The 43-year-old recalled a second-grade assignment where he was asked to write down his dream, - winning the Daytona 500.

"Every kid knows when they have that assignment where it’s, ‘Who you want to be when you get older? What’s your dream?’ This was that assignment for me when I was in second grade and I was eight years old. This was my dream," he said.

Pointing to the note from second grade that was preserved by his mother, he read:

"My wish is to win the Daytona 500. If I win the Daytona 500, I would like for it to come true on February 17th."

The dream did come true as he now looks back on his career as a three-time Daytona 500 winner, and also won the event on February 17 in 2019 and 2020.