The outcome of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway has created quite a stir on social media over the last two days, but for Denny Hamlin, there is no anger, right now, only devastation.
Hamlin found himself in an incredible position in the final moments of Sunday’s event to finally, after two decades of trying and several near-misses, collect a championship in the NASCAR Cup Series. That was, until a flat tire for William Byron drew a caution that threw the race into NASCAR Overtime.
In the winner-takes-all season-finale, Hamlin, with four Goodyear tires on his No. 11, was unable to be the first of the Championship 4 drivers to drive under the checkered flag — that honor went to Kyle Larson, who only took right-side tires on the final pit stop.
“I think the first time, and no disrespect to them, I don’t think I saw them until the white flag lap. I can’t remember a lap when he was ahead of me at any point of the race, and then I remember seeing him for the very first time after we took the white in the dogleg,” said Hamlin. “When I went down, I looked up because they told me on the backstretch with two to go that the No. 5 is pinned on the outside, and I thought he was one of the cars I was clearing. So, when I saw him, I knew then that it was over.”
What, all afternoon, had felt like it was going to be the perfect moment for the Chesterfield, Virginia-native was quickly ripped away, and what remained was a hollow shell of the usually quick-witted, polarizing personality that fans had come to love throughout the season.
At the NASCAR Awards Banquet, the first public appearance for Hamlin since his devastating championship loss on Sunday, the pain was still very much visible in the eyes of the 44-year-old driver.
Asked how he was doing, Hamlin said: “I don’t know. Felt like you’d think.”
The main concern, at least from outside observers, is whether Hamlin will get back in the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, after comments Sunday where Hamlin said, “in this moment, I never want to race a car ever again”.
So, is that still the feeling? Regarding coming back at the start of next season, Hamlin had this to say: “I mean, I plan to. I have a contract to. But at this point, there is absolutely no way that I can even think about a racecar right now. I’m going to need some time on this one.”
As the pain from Sunday’s devastating loss begins to fade away, we’ll likely get a better idea of whether Hamlin is seriously considering walking away from NASCAR Cup Series competition. But, until then, it’s hard to know exactly what the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is thinking.
Should Hamlin decide to walk away during the off-season, it wouldn’t even be the first time that Joe Gibbs Racing has suffered a sudden mid-offseason departure, as Carl Edwards retired from NASCAR competition after losing out on the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
Could this be deja-vu for Joe Gibbs Racing, and the NASCAR Cup Series, as a whole?
