Denny Hamlin’s recent run of three wins in three weeks has slowed down the retirement rumors around him. It’s also what prompted Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner, Heather Gibbs, to say after Pocono: “We joked, we were like, ‘You’re a spring chicken, you have so many years left.’ Now we’re trying to think of how we can keep him longer.” But Hamlin’s act of doubling down, delivered shortly after in a separate interview, will get the rumor mill running again.
“I’m going to contact people like Kevin Harvick, who had a lot of success late in his career, and Mark Martin. I mean he was winning races at 50. It was quite incredible. I don’t know. I just want to talk to them about finding out when the right time is for them,” Hamlin said during an interview with ESPN SportsCenter, when asked if he’d take suggestions from Michael Jordan about his career.
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“I feel pretty confident in the date that I set out, and it’ll be enough time for me. That’s 23 years. That’s enough. It’s a lot of races that we’ve won during the course of my career. So, I don’t want to regret it, but I just think that I want to know that I’m capable of winning in my final year.”
Hamlin signed his current deal, a two-year extension, before several milestones that should complicate a retirement decision. It was before he came within one call of a maiden Cup title at Phoenix last November. Before he tied the late Kyle Busch for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list at Michigan with career win No. 63. Before he then passed Busch outright at Pocono, his eighth career win at the track, for sole possession of ninth all-time.
Moreover, many draw parallels between Hamlin and his business partner at 23XI Racing, Michael Jordan, who made two comebacks from retirement before finally hanging up his jersey for good. However, Hamlin appears content with the timeline he’d originally set for himself. As he has reiterated time and again, Hamlin wants to walk away while he’s still at the top of his game. After all, he has studied the cautionary tales closely.
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Mark Martin won races at 50 and sat on a pole at 54, yet he has said his own racecraft had quietly been declining for years before it became obvious to anyone watching. Jimmie Johnson, similarly, won three times the season after his seventh title, then went winless across his final 95 starts. Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip both finished their careers without a win across their last eight seasons. And Petty, “The King,” even later admitted, “The longer we run, the slower I got.”
Hamlin gracefully accepts defeat to Kyle Busch
When Hamlin finally equaled Kyle Busch’s Cup Series win tally at Michigan, he couldn’t help but accept defeat.
“The number of wins he has in NASCAR is just unprecedented… And when we won Michigan just a few weeks ago, it helped me tie Kyle Busch in his win total, but you know, I had to outlive him to beat him.”
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It was a warm gesture by Hamlin, who had spent more than a decade working with Busch as his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing. Their bittersweet rivalry was a major highlight of their careers, and both Hamlin and Busch had no problems admitting that they had pushed each other to their limits.
Hence, it’s fitting that the preparations for Hamlin’s Kyle Busch tribute after winning Michigan began days in advance. And pulling it off required cooperation across two rival teams, as RCR agreed to let JGR use Busch’s stylized No. 8 logo for Hamlin’s victory flag and hat.
Over the radio after the checkered flag, Hamlin called out, “We love you, KB.”
Now that he has surpassed him, Hamlin cannot help but think, “I would not have the wins that I have today if I didn’t have him as a teammate pushing me. He was the ultimate guy in speed.”
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