Denny Hamlin comments on speculation about future of Stewart-Haas Racing

Denny Hamlin is wondering what’s going on with Stewart-Haas Racing, just like the rest of the NASCAR world.

There’s a ton of uncertainty regarding the future of the once-great race team. Stewart-Haas Racing has become a staple in the Cup Series, but the organization led by former NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart is in immense flux at the moment.

They have four teams, with Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece driving their vehicles, but the passion seemingly isn’t there from ownership. That has many theorizing regarding the future of the team, including the aforementioned Hamlin, who’s a fellow team owner, of course.

“Certainly there’s tons of rumors out there about what’s going on,” Hamlin explained, during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I can’t speak to any of them, for sure. But it seems like there’s going to be some movement around. It’s too early for me to speculate, because these drivers are saying, ‘Hey, we’re racing for a job,’ and who knows what the team members are thinking at this point, but surely, you know, we’ll know something soon, because no one at SHR management or ownership wants this cloud hanging over them for the entire season.

“So, surely they’re going to saying something, either, ‘Hey, we’re good. We’re going to keep this train going,’ or, ‘We’re not, and you guys are free to look around.’ So I think that you know, that certainly would happen, you would think sooner rather than later, but you just never know.”

As for how their drivers are feeling, Hamlin explained that the four wheelmen for Stewart-Haas Racing are definitely dealign with the speculation, and that’s nothing new for drivers, but it’s certainly odd when an entire organization is in the mix.

“Speculation always happens. It’s just different because this is an entire race team that we’re talking about,” Hamlin added. “Yeah, the answer is no, I haven’t seen anything like this certainly, but there’s some sensitivities, likely around it, to where you know, they can’t say anything yet.”

If Stewart-Haas Racing does decide to sell their charters, there’s plenty of teams who would be smitten to hire someone from their driving talent. Briscoe has shown to be a playoff caliber driver, while Gragson, Berry and Preece have immense potential, but haven’t been given the best equipment.

Moving forward, Denny Hamlin and the rest of the NASCAR world will be watching with interested eyes to see what becomes of Stewart-Haas Racing, and if this is their swan song in the NASCAR Cup Series after some major success through the years.