Racing in front of hundreds of friends and family, all the while attempting to grab a most coveted victory at a hometown track, can unload heavy pressure on any driver.

Any driver except Denny Hamlin, apparently.

Richmond International Raceway is Denny Hamlin’s Holy Grail track. He wants to win there more than any other track – and he’s come achingly close.

The most glaring example took place last season at the spring Richmond race. Hamlin won the pole that race, and went on to lead 381 laps – only to finish 24th thanks to an end-of-race tire problem.

In that event, Hamlin had race-high marks in Average Running Position (2.3), Driver Rating (129.1) and Fastest Laps Run (104).

That was just one race in a long line of successful races at Richmond for the native of nearby Chesterfield, Va.

Hamlin has raced at Richmond six times, and every time he has led laps. He has also registered three top fives, four top 10s and two poles (coincidentally each pole resulted in a finish outside the top 10).

In his Richmond career, Hamlin has racked up some of the top Loop Data statistics in the series. He has a Driver Rating of 115.3 (second-best), a series-best Average Running Position of 5.4, 201 Fastest Laps Run (fifth) and a series-best Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 97.7%.

Still, Hamlin has yet to visit Victory Lane in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Richmond. To reach the summit this weekend, Hamlin will likely have to contend with another driver without a Richmond win – Kyle Busch.

Busch has an average finish of 6.8 at Richmond, his best of any track on the schedule. He has notched top-five finishes in six of his eight RIR races.

In his Richmond career, Busch has a Driver Rating of 109.9 (third-best), an Average Running Position of 8.1 (third), 225 Fastest Laps Run (second), a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 85.3% (third).