I have been a NASCAR fan since I was 7 years old and in an effort to avoid aging myself, let's just say I have been an avid follower for quite a while.In that time, I have progressed in my driver following. I started with Bobby Labonte, went to Ricky Craven, Jeremy Mayfield and Elliott Sadler and finally settled on Denny Hamlin when he was a rookie in 2006.
I have always been a fan of Joe and JD Gibbs, and any driver they employ has to be top notch. The fact that Denny Hamlin can drive a race car doesn't hurt anything. For the three years I have rooted for the # 11 car, the driver has made me proud. Winning races in his rookie year, running away with Rookie of the Year honors, making the Chase and giving a phenomenal speech during the banquet, and showing that he has what it takes to make it in the series are all reasons that I continue to call him my favorite driver.
Lately, I have had the unique oportunity to talk to Denny Hamlin. He only answers his emails once a week, but I am so honored to get even the slightest moment of his time. The fact that he is so accessible to his fans is one of my favorite things about him. Many other drivers are too busy to talk to fans or simply don't care to have that interaction.
Not only does Denny reply to me when I send him a message, he also graciously answers any questions I have for him. At times I ask several things and he is always so generous and takes the time to give me an answer to every single one of them.
He visits the blog from time to time to see how it's coming along and any time I ask him to check out a particular post he is more than happy to read it and leave a comment. There are 3 posts with comments from Denny Hamlin on this particular blog and two on the other blog I have for D Ham.
I had a very difficult week and Denny went above and beyond by letting me know that he was aware that I was going through a hard time and he would be thinking about me. For this fan, there simply aren't words to express how much I appreciate that.
The past three weeks have been extremely busy for Denny. He has been in NYC, testing in Kentucky, and giving away a Toyota Prius in Washington, DC with Coach Joe Gibbs but he still found the time to show his concern for not just a fan, but a friend. He remembered that he hadn't looked at the post I mentioned to him and kept his promise, as always, and read the blog and left his comment.
If you are a NASCAR fan, I hope you will consider rooting for Denny Hamlin. If you are a Denny Hamlin fan, I hope you are proud to be his follower. Regardless of what anyone else says about Denny, I know what a great guy he is and I am speechless over his kindness to me.
So, from Becca, the Denny Hamlin blogger to her favorite driver and her friend, NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin, Thank You for everything. You truly are a class act and I couldn't be more proud to write this blog, root for you every week and to have the chance to watch you race. Words just don't seem sufficent to express my appreciation.
