Denny Hamlin’s two-decade-long dream of winning the NASCAR Cup Championship slipped through his fingers last weekend in Phoenix, and many wonder if it was a bit too gut-wrenching for him to recover from. Be that as it may, one thing is certain: he’s not going away. Mark Martin is sure he won’t follow in the footsteps of Carl Edwards.
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In Edwards‘ 13 years in NASCAR, he became one of the most consistent drivers to never wear the crown. His final shot came in 2016, when he reached the Championship 4 only to watch the title slip through his fingers. That heartbreak proved too heavy to bear, and he walked away from the sport immediately after.
When Hamlin’s title dreams shattered at Phoenix this year, his words echoed Edwards’ farewell sentiment: he said he no longer wanted to drive, at least not in that moment. But Martin believes Hamlin’s story won’t end the same way.
In a recent conversation alongside his son Matt Martin and Kenny Wallace, the NASCAR Hall of Famer drew parallels between Edwards’ 2016 heartbreak and Hamlin’s latest close call, while insisting that the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran still has fight left in him.
“Carl left the sport in a way that just left me in awe. But we will see where Denny is now. I believe he can come back in 26 and contend for the championship again. I also believe that 2025 was his year,” Martin said.
“Denny and his team did the work, put the work in, whooped everybody’s a**. I mean, anytime he wanted, he could pull out to a 3-second lead. He did it all. And then, because in the name of entertainment, all these different things, points, resets, this, that, and the other, overtime finishes, whatever, something happens, and it slips through their fingers, and it tears everybody’s heart up. It’s not really a flaw in the system. It’s just that dog on it; you really wanted the guy that earned it, the guy that dominated the race, they did the work.”
Hamlin’s run at Phoenix was the stuff of champions. He started on pole, led two-thirds of the race, and controlled nearly every phase until the late caution turned the tide. To do “That when it matters, that’s hard,” Martin admitted.
Because the #11 team did it all, their defeat was just heart-wrenching. He believes the biggest test for Hamlin now lies off the track: how he processes the loss, regroups, and decides whether to chase glory one more time. He understands that Hamlin is going to be challenged on how he handles this mentally, and if he can come back and give NASCAR and the fans another season at 45 years old, although it gets harder every year.
For Edwards, the pain and the politics of modern NASCAR, particularly the late-race cautions and the sport’s growing tilt toward entertainment, made him question whether it was worth staying in the game. And a culmination of those things became the breaking point for the former driver.
But with the #11 JGR driver, the outlook is different. His experience and love for competition have always set him apart. Even as disappointment weighs heavily, many around the garage believe the No. 11 driver will find his footing again and return to chase the championship that has eluded him for over two decades. So, for Hamlin, this might not be the end of the road, just another bend on the path back to redemption.
