Joe Gibbs has no plans of letting Denny Hamlin race for a different team in his NASCAR career.
After losing Kyle Busch last offseason and watching him have immense success with Richard Childress Racing, Gibbs doesn’t want to see a similar situation with his other longtime driver. While Hamlin is a part-owner of 23XI Racing and could always race with them, Gibbs wants him to stay in his No. 11 Toyota.
Speaking with the media after Hamlin’s victory at Pocono on Sunday, Gibbs addressed Hamlin’s contract situation, and his future with Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Denny’s here for the next ten years. That’s what I’m announcing,” joked Gibbs. “No, really. We’re working on everything in our place, but we know Denny’s going to be here.”
That sounds like a man pretty dang confident that Hamlin will remain with his team for the foreseeable future.
While a championship has eluded Hamlin, he’s still been one of the greatest drivers of his generation, and perhaps the best driver in NASCAR history without a title. Perhaps 2023 will be the year he reaches that mark.
Time will tell, but one thing seems to be for certain, Denny Hamlin will continue to be the elder-statesmen of Joe Gibbs Racing.
Denny Hamlin responds to fans’ booing after Pocono victory
Continuing, amid the boos and the jeers against Denny Hamlin, as he got out of his car, he showed little remorse. When the move was compared to what he did to Ross Chastain just a year ago, Hamlin fired back and said he did nothing wrong.
“Both guys wrecked themselves. He missed the corner first and, evidently, he didn’t have his right tires clean. When he gassed up, just kept going again,” Hamlin said. “You have an option in those positions to either hold it wide open and hit the fence or lift and race it out. But those are choices they made. I didn’t hit either one of them, didn’t touch them.”
Of course, no one thought Hamlin would apologize or feel bad for his actions. He soaked it all in, taking in every boo and harsh word against him for a couple of minutes.
“I love it, I love it,” Hamlin said about the fans. “They can boo my rock out here in a few years.”
That is a nod to the rocks that Pocono puts out for legendary drivers. With his seven wins at the track, he’s probably right about getting one.
On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.
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