Denny Hamlin fans should be concerned with Joe Gibbs' latest comments

This week, Joe Gibbs discussed Hamlin's contract status during an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 

"I would say that my hope is we're kind of moving forward with all of that, and hopefully, there's going to be something to announce here real quick," Gibbs said. "I think that's kind of where we are. Things are not done yet, and so you're working hard on them and certainly, all of us want that to happen.

"We want Denny here. It's been 17 years. He's helped us build our race team, along with all those other guys that have helped us over the years from a driver's standpoint. But we would love for him to be here and go his entire career and retire here. So that's kind of our dream. That's what we would like."

Sounds encouraging, right? To JGR fans, it should also sound somewhat familiar. That's because Gibbs said similar things on multiple occasions last year about Kyle Busch during his free agency situation, including before the Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. 

"It's just trying to get something done," Gibbs told NBC. "You get up every day and go after it as hard as you can. You would hope that this would have already been resolved but it's not. It's been hard."

Interestingly, Hamlin candidly admitted at Watkins Glen several weeks ago that the whole situation had the same look and feel of what happened last year with Busch, who is now driving for Richard Childress Racing, and acknowledged that both he and the team owner have said similar things. 

The owner's latest remarks are just more fuel for the fire and fans of the No. 11 team might start preparing for a change of scenery in 2024.