“I’m gonna try to just win all I can this window while it is still there.” Denny Hamlin said this at Bristol back in April. Now, heading into the 2025 Cup Series season’s second Bristol race, his words hold more true than ever. After two decades of stock car racing, Hamlin is approaching legendary status in NASCAR. His latest victory in Gateway put his win total at 59, placing him 11th on the all-time wins list. And this milestone is all that matters for Hamlin to think about his exit plan.

Here’s what happened: During the 240-lap Enjoy Illinois 300 race, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran hogged the spotlight. Denny Hamlin started from the pole on a track where he had finished runner-up twice before: the World Wide Technology Raceway. He brushed against his usual rivals, including Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson. By the end of the race, he fended off Briscoe successfully to win. With that, he now boasts 59 victories at 20 different tracks. Plus, he became only the seventh driver to win multiple races after 700 career starts. He also ranks fourth all-time with 14 playoff wins.

So, although the championship conversation is still alive, Hamlin is satisfied enough to consider retirement. During the post-race interview, journalist Bob Pockrass asked him, “When you were talking about like having the countdown 70 to go, I assume that your next two-year deal will be your last, right?” The driver responded, “Yes, that’s correct.”

Denny Hamlin signed a multiyear contract extension with JGR in July, and it runs through 2027. However, even back then, he was open that it would “most likely” be his last, though he kept the door open.

Further responding to Pockrass’s question about his countdown, the driver added, “It’s always been about the number of races… Brickyards, right? I haven’t won the freaking Brickyard. And it’s like I’m gonna have two more shots at it, and that’s it, to round this thing out. There’s certain races that I do have countdowns for. Championships isn’t one of them… obviously, it’s well-documented. I wanna get the wins, and I feel like that would carry its weight long after. When you compare me to someone that’s got one or two, maybe even three championships and half the wins, I don’t think that person’s better than I am.”

Evidently, Hamlin is passionately trundling down the final stretch of his Cup Series road. And that has been possible due to his resilience and hard work.

Denny Hamlin: Adapting smoothly to changing times

At 44, Denny Hamlin is currently the most senior driver in the Cup Series garage. He has pushed through 20 full-time Cup seasons and 713 career starts, but not once has he lost his motivation to achieve more. At the cusp of the 2025 season, Hamlin went through an upheaval. He lost his long-time crew chief, Chris Gabehart, with whom he had won 22 races together in six seasons. He had to start a fresh bond with Chris Gayle.

That is what Chris Gayle, the new No. 11 Toyota crew chief, admitted recently. He has done only 27 Cup starts with Denny Hamlin, and is already impressed by the veteran’s work ethic. Gayle said after the Gateway victory: “The amount of time he puts into it… But whether it’s a simulator, even if it’s texting at 10 p.m. at night … we have a Slack channel with me and the engineers and spotter. We’re getting random texts with things he’s thinking about. I assumed he might be off duty right now, and not really.

“He’s still sitting there in the bus looking at stuff. I think those are the things that I did not realize from the outside, how competitive he is, at really everything.” Although Denny Hamlin may be preparing his exit plan, this shows his tireless drive to win. We cannot wait to see what magic he conjures in the next two years! Do you agree?