Last month, the car Denny Hamlin won the 2016 Daytona 500 with was evicted from its place of residence.
It happens every year, the car that won the previous “Great American Race” only gets a 12-month lease at the Daytona International Speedway museum. Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota was shown the door to make way for the No. 41 of Kurt Busch and its grass-covered hood.
But Hamlin’s car has a new home. Right next to the driver’s living room.
Every time Hamlin walks through it, he can look through a glass wall at the car that won the Daytona 500 by .01 seconds over Martin Truex Jr.
Hamlin posted a picture of the car sitting in a custom garage, still covered in victory lane confetti.
Also in the room is Hamlin’s Daytona 500 trophy, which sits beneath a picture of the historic race finish.
The other two cars in the garage are the first stock car Hamlin ever raced and to its right is the No. 11 car Hamlin won the Advanced Auto Parts Clash with in his rookie season in 2006.
“I knew that eventually I would want something in there when I was designing the house,” Hamlin said Friday at Martinsville Speedway. “It worked out nice to where I had a nice little spot right there next to the trophy. Eventually one day I’d like to have a championship car and a championship trophy that might trump it.”
