Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR journey takes an unfortunate turn as he falls short of Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt’s milestones

Denny Hamlin's second straight DNF at Kansas Speedway has come at the cost of a 12-year long NASCAR streak of his. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver fell victim to mechanical gremlins that derailed his run and left him short of longstanding milestones set by Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt.

Hamlin kept his No.11 Toyota Camry among the top-10 in the first two stages, but did so while enduring recurring issues with his clutch. The ordeal was apparent when his crew had to push him out of the pit box on lap 127. His troubles reached an unfortunate conclusion when his transaxle broke during the final round of pitstops, leading to a retirement from terminal damage.

The result echoes his last place finish in the previous round at Texas Motor Speedway, where his car's underbody blew out flames. The DNF was suspected to be a potential engine issue resulting in an oil fire.

NASCAR Insights noted that Hamlin now ranks third all-time for most races without back-to-back DNFs at 424 races, a streak stretching from the last such occurence in 2013. Leading the way are Cup champions Dale Earnhardt with 475 races and Kevin Harvick at the top with 643 races.

"At Kansas, Denny Hamlin recorded back-to-back DNFs for the first time since the Summer of 2013, 424 starts ago. This was the 3rd most races a driver has EVER gone without having back-to-back DNFs."

Denny Hamlin's DNF at Kansas has dropped him four places in the driver's standings to land at seventh with 346 points. Notably, the 44-year-old previously placed second in the standings after two back-to-back wins at Martinsville and Darlington.

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Denny Hamlin comdemns NASCAR for creating fake stats

Denny Hamlin recently called out NASCAR for creating fake stats that undermine fans' trust in the sport. After his race at Texas Motor Speedway, the JGR driver took to his podcast, Actions Detrimental, and addressed the stats of green flag passes that doesn't even require a car to cross the start finish line. He spoke in depth about how the practice inflates the numbers and presents an illusion of more competitive racing.

"I think you lose some credibility with the fans and I think the fans have a low morale right now due to their lack of faith in the competition leadership. I don't know how else to say it," he said.

"I just think that NASCAR created its own stats to make itself look good. You know, when you created a green flag passes stat that didn't even include the start finish line, it was just an invisible. However many noses go ahead of each other at any invisible point on the track. And we're going to count that as a pass. Like, I'm sorry, you're just making something up to look better," he added. [1:06 onwards]

Denny Hamlin made his Cup Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005 at Kansas Speedway. In his 20 year career, he has amassed 56 wins from the Cup Series, 18 from the Xfinity Series and two from the Truck Series. His best season came in 2010 when he finished as the runner-up to Jimmie Johnson.