Denny Hamlin breaks down his chaotic contract renewal with Joe Gibbs Racing

Denny Hamlin dropped to fifth in the standings after the opening Playoffs race at Darlington.

Denny Hamlin breaks down his chaotic contract renewal with Joe Gibbs Racing

Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

The long saga of contract renewal of Denny Hamlin with JGR finally ended on 30th August as both parties agreed to a new multi-year deal. The process became overly complicated because of Hamlin’s co-ownership of 23XI Racing, due to which various conflicts of interest were big obstacles in the renewal. Hamlin recently opened up about the time and energy the process extracted from him.

As of most contract negotiations, Hamlin revealed he was in continuous contact with the JGR team. He mentioned that due to so many factors being involved, every decision had to be taken very carefully, considering the different factors that would be affected.

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“I mean, phone calls, e-mails, in-person meetings, Zooms. It just never stops. It never stops because, again, every decision you make has a cause and effect somewhere. So you make a decision, ‘Hey we’re going to do this,’ Well, then how does it affect B & C?,” Hamlin said on his podcast (H&T: The Sports Rush).

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Hamlin concluded that he is now fully focused on the Playoffs after a disappointing result at Darlington. He said, “I think that now that is done; I see myself having a ton more time to just focus on the tasks at hand.”

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Denny Hamlin reveals he will only continue racing if he can still win

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Credits: Motorsport.com)

Denny Hamlin’s renewal with JGR has probably sealed that the driver will see out the rest of his career with the team. The 42-year-old has been with JGR for nearly two decades, having accumulated 50 race wins in the NASCAR Cup Series. As Hamlin is in the ending stages of his career, his priorities have also surely changed as he said that he won’t race for long if he does not remain competitive anymore.

Even though he is regarded as one of the best NASCAR drivers, Hamlin is still chasing his debut Cup Series Championship with JGR. He made it very clear that at his current age, he only wants to be on the track if he can win and does not want to be just one among the crowd. “I don’t want to kind of trickle off. I’m way too competitive to do it. There is no way I could go to the race track not knowing that I could win,” he said.

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