NASCAR Number
Distributed by The Sports Xchange
264: The number of career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts for Denny Hamlin, all of which are consecutive. Hamlin took over what was then the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet for the final seven events of 2005 and hasn't missed a race since then, though the brand of his car changed to Toyota to start the 2008 season. Hamlin kept the streak alive through knee surgery in 2010. He won at Martinsville in late March of that year and underwent an operation to repair a torn ACL in his left knee two days later. Hamlin was back at Phoenix after an open week in the schedule and won again a week later at Texas. Hamlin's streak of consecutive starts will end, however, when he's not behind the wheel for the green flag Apr. 7 at Martinsville, as he lets a compression fracture of his first lumbar vertebra heal.
