At 44, Gateway winner Denny Hamlin is 14 years older than his two other Joe Gibbs Racing teammates that are in the current NASCAR Cup playoffs, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell.
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Hamlin now leads all Cup drivers this season with five wins, and taking the checkered flag boosts him into first place in the standings and also assures him a promotion to the Round of 12 playoff quarterfinals.
The Virginia native hasn’t achieved all his accomplishments this season just by himself. He gives credit to his JGR teammates, saying both Briscoe and Bell have helped him elevate his game this year (as well as Ty Gibbs, who did not make the playoffs).
In a season where most drivers would be contemplating retirement, Hamlin could finally be on the verge of doing something he’s never done in his Cup career: earning his first championship.
Hamlin’s fifth win (and also the 59th of his career) is also now half of JGR’s 10 wins this season: Bell has three and Briscoe has two, including last week’s playoff opener at Darlington. This marks the first time JGR has won 10 races in a year, and don’t forget there’s still eight more left to go, since 2019 when former teammate Kyle Busch won his second career Cup championship.
“It certainly makes it more fun,” Hamlin said of having Bell and Briscoe as both his teammates and also playoff rivals. “There’s a lot of pride in each one of the drivers wanting to be down there at Joe Gibbs Racing at 1:45 (pm) tomorrow, hanging the banner of their number (a tradition at JGR that occurs after each win).
“And when you look up there and you’re teammates with these guys and they’re putting their number in order of wins, it’s like you want your number to be more up there more than everybody else’s. There’s just a lot of gamesmanship and pride that goes into that.”
While each JGR driver lineup over the years has been significantly different with guys like Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and others, Hamlin points to one driver in particular that has been kind of a new spark that has helped take the organization to the next level.
“Certainly, bringing Chase over this year, the dynamic is a little different than what it has been,” Hamlin said.
Briscoe joined the team, replacing Truex, who retired after last season, after Briscoe found himself a free agent when Stewart Haas Racing ceased operations after last season.
“I don’t know how many Joe Gibbs Racing teammates I’ve been through or worked with,” Hamlin said. “It’s got to be a lot, it feels like now. But everyone’s a little bit different and everyone will push you in a different way.
“There’s certain parts of each driver’s game that I envy, that forces me to identify that I’m not as good as them in blank area and then it truly helps me be better.”
With each outing, Hamlin’s career run gets one race shorter
For a guy who turns 45 just a few days after the Cup finale in Phoenix, Hamlin knows that he’s having one of the most spectacular years for a guy who has been in the Cup Series for more than two decades.
But he also knows the end is getting closer with each race. He was asked if his next contract extension, which will take him through the 2027 season, will be his last. “That’s correct,” Hamlin said.
Whether he retires then or, as he’s said several times, that he’d like to run his final Cup season driving for the team he co-owns with Michael Jordan, 23XI Racing, remains to be seen.
That is, of course, if 23XI is still in business in 2028, or if Jordan and he close up shop after this season if they lose their lawsuit vs. NASCAR in December and lose their three disputed Cup charters.
But there’s no question the next two years will be Hamin’s last at JGR. He does not see another contract extension on the horizon, even if he somehow miraculously would win this year’s championship, as well as championships in the next two years as well.
“It’s always been about the number of races,” he said. “The only one I thought about was this year in the Daytona 500, thinking that (I’m) probably only going to do this twice more.”
But wait, there’s still a few more things left on his wish list
Hamlin has won the Daytona 500 three times. But he still has a few boxes he hasn’t checked off in his illustrious career yet.
“I haven’t won the freaking Brickyard (400),” Hamlin quipped. “I’m going to have two more shots at it and that’s it, to round this thing out. So there’s certain races that I do have countdowns for.
“Championships isn’t one of them. It’s well documented I want to get (to 60) wins and I feel like that will carry its weight long after.”
At the rate he’s going, given that he’s averaged one win every 5.6 races this season, Hamlin may still have a few more wins left in him this season.
He ended his post-race press conference in a very poignant manner: “When you compare me to someone that’s maybe got one or two or maybe even three championships and half the wins, I don’t think that that person is better than I am.”
