Much of the 2022 season at Joe Gibbs Racing was clouded by the uncertainty around Kyle Busch’s future with the outfit, culminating with the two-time champion leaving the team to join RCR. After Martin Truex Jr. signed a one-year contract to stay with the team for 2024, all eyes are on Denny Hamlin now. Hamlin’s situation is unique though, with plenty of other variables thrown in the mix, something the #11 pointed to ahead of the race at Watkins Glen.
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Hamlin grabbed the pole for the final road course race of the season ahead of Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Front Row’s Michael McDowell. Like almost every week now, Hamlin was asked about his contract situation at the media briefing, with the driver laying out how his situation is different from where Kyle Busch was last year.
Denny Hamlin admits Kyle Busch similarities but with other factors at play
At Watkins Glen, when Hamlin was asked if he intended to stay back at Joe Gibbs Racing, the driver-owner responded, “I think that I’m happy at Joe Gibbs Racing and Joe (Gibbs) is happy with me. I think that certainly with the Kyle (Busch) situation last year, Kyle’s ask was his ask. And Joe Gibbs needed sufficient funding on the car to do it.”
“From the day one, to give you inside baseball, Joe said I could have zero sponsorship on your car. It doesn’t matter. We want you and this is what we’re going to do. It’s different in that sense. It’s easy to draw parallels because you hear I’m saying some things Kyle said and Joe is saying some very similar things, but there’s just more factors in play than just us for sure.”
The biggest factor at play here is Hamlin’s situation with Toyota as the owner of 23XI Racing. With nothing finalized there as yet, Hamlin and Joe Gibbs are certainly careful of making any definitive claims about their partnership beyond this year.
Hamlin knows Joe Gibbs wants him back on the team in 2024
The three-time Daytona 500 winner has been with the team since the start of his career, with the successful partnership in its 18th year now. Hamlin yet again emphasized what the two parties actually want, “It’s what I want, and I think it’s what Joe (Gibbs) wants. There’s just a lot of factors that are out of both mine and his hands.”
“Again, if I didn’t own a team, I think this would be done by now, but there’s just a lot of different factors that play into it and whether we can get it done or not.”
While it is expected that Hamlin will certainly re-sign with JGR before the season ends, the delay is certainly something all parties could have avoided.
