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Joe Gibbs consoles Denny Hamlin amid NASCAR Championship heartbreak, sends intriguing message

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Thomas Goldkamp | Last updated Nov 2, 2025 10:39 PM ET

It was a tough aftermath to the championship race in Phoenix for Denny Hamlin on Sunday. In a commanding position with just five laps to go in the race, he seemed on his way to winning his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.

It’s a goal he’s been chasing his entire career. It was so close he could taste it.

Then William Byron had a tire go down and he went into the wall. The caution came out with four laps remaining. And the mad scramble to pit road began.

Denny Hamlin and his team opted to take four tires to maximize grip for the overtime restart, chance at a championship on the line. But they lost six spots coming off pit road, meaning Hamlin had serious ground to make up.

He couldn’t quite pull it off, and Kyle Larson finished ahead to claim the Cup Series championship. Hamlin sat in his car for about two minutes in utter shock after the race.

Finally, team owner Joe Gibbs came over to console him. He had several words for Hamlin, some of which you can make out in the clip below.

“I’m proud of ya…thank you. Thank you for the years,”

Coach Joe Gibbs tells Denny Hamlin. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/2xtOhnR7sM
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) November 3, 2025

“I’m proud of you,” Gibbs said. “Thank you. Thank you for the years.”

Gibbs then began walking away from Denny Hamlin. But as he did, and just before an interviewer cut in to have a word, he turned back.

“You have five more, right?” Gibbs said. Undoubtedly referring to his desire to have Hamlin in the car for a long time to come still.

It was a question Hamlin also faced in a roundabout way in a post-race interview with the TV broadcast crew. He was asked whether he can win a championship in the future, in a manner that seemed to tease out any potential thoughts of retirement.

“We’ll try,” Hamlin said. “I’ve got a couple more shots at it, but man, if you can’t win that one I don’t know which one you can win.”

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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