NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin has secured a new multi-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin began his Cup career with JGR in 2005 and has been with the team ever since.
The 44-year-old driver has been experiencing a strong 2025 campaign thus far, securing the 58th win of his career at Dover last weekend, which places him fourth in the Cup Series standings. Speaking about his two-year contract extension with JGR, Hamlin said:
“Joe (Gibbs, owner) and everyone at JGR are family to me and have done so much for me over the last 20 years. We’ve had a solid start to this season, and we have been able to welcome some great new partners this year, so there are a lot of exciting things happening with our team, not only now but also in the future.”
Gibbs added:
“I really appreciate Denny and everything he has meant to our organization. It is just really special when you think about everything we’ve experienced over the past 20 years, from the first moment when J.D. (Gibbs) recognized his talent at a test session, until now. It is remarkable in any sport to compete at the level Denny has for this long, and we are thrilled he has been able to spend his entire career with us.”
Hamlin hinted in a recent press conference that this could be his last contract extension. He said:
“The ability to win week in and week out, that’s a high motivating factor in wanting to do this. Certainly, as competitive as I am, I’m motivated by being able to win.”
He added:
“Who knows what could happen three years from now? I just want to make sure I give them [Joe Gibbs Racing] proper time, make sure I commit to them for not one year, (but) multiple years, let them continue to try and build the program. But no particular reason — if I was 26 I would take 10 years. I want to make sure I’m still at peak form in my final year. That could be tailing off for three years, so I don’t want that.
“All those things are just big factors in it, but I just I want the ability to know I can win my last race. That’s going to be the deciding factor. I’m not going to wait until I start to head downward and then retire. I don’t want to go through a whole year. I understand if it just happens naturally in the second half of the final year, then it just happens, but I don’t want to have to go through another season, if I’m starting to tail off the end of next year, I’ll just retire. I could retire whenever I want to retire, so I think that I’m just going to see how things go.”
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