AVONDALE, Ariz. — It’s all lining up for Denny Hamlin to shed his title as NASCAR’s greatest driver without a Cup Series championship.
Hamlin, in his 20th full season on the top national circuit, won the pole position in Saturday qualifying for Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway. He is one of four drivers in the 38-car field who is eligible for the Cup Series title, and the highest finisher in the race among the 44-year-old Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, and Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron and Kyle Larson will be the 2025 champion.
Hamlin’s JGR No. 11 Toyota will lead the field to green to close out a year in which he has already won a series-high six points races, with his playoff victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month the milestone 60th overall of his Cup Series career. That win locked him into the finale with three weeks to prepare — his car physically and himself mentally — and that had him relaxed and joking ahead of the biggest race of his life.
“I think the benefit was winning in Vegas because I was able to get so much work done before this week. That way this week is not crammed so much,” said Hamlin, who in previous title races has been a range of moods, including 2010 when he was basically stone-faced and silent.
“Been treating it really just like I would any other Phoenix week. There’s not much different other than there’s just more people, truthfully,” he added.
He has an entourage of about 30 friends and family sharing three rental homes in the Phoenix area.
And after Hamlin turned a lap at 133.759 mph to earn the top starting spot — a luxury that gives him first choice of pit stall, a selection that could curb his propensity to earn speeding penalties — the pro-Hamlin crowd has to be loving his chances.
On the other hand, could be be peaking too early in the weekend?
“No whammy!” he said with a laugh while pounding the table when asked if things are going a little too well.
Byron qualified second at 133.551 and Larson qualified third at 133.437 in their Chevrolets. Briscoe wound up 12th, lowest of the title contenders, at 132.680 in his Toyota.
“I felt like, truthfully, it was a really bad lap I ran,” Briscoe said. “Was kind of surprised it was even 12th, to a certain extent.”
Hamlin has lost in the final race with the championship a possibility six times, so it’s not far-fetched to think his luck may turn Sunday.
“You can only help the things that you can control,” he said. “Obviously we’ll just do the best we can for 312 laps. I hope it’s enough.”
The 33-year-old Larson is the only driver in the championship field with a title, winning in 2021, while two-time reigning Daytona 500 winner Byron, 27, is one of the four drivers racing for the title in the finale for the third year in a row. Briscoe, 30, is racing for the title in the finale for the first time, and three-time Daytona 500 winner Hamlin is back in the final four for the first time since 2021.
Hamlin has become the sympathetic favorite to win Sunday, and even his competitors have acknowledged a championship for the longtime bridesmaid would be well received.
“Everybody likes a story like that where somebody is nearing the end of their career, all that — I can see why people would cheer for him,” Larson said. “Obviously I want to win. But it would be really cool to see somebody who has put in so much time to this sport and been so close so many times. Sixty wins. I’m going to want to kick his ass tomorrow, but it’s not going to kill me if he wins.”
Added Briscoe: “I think it would be a shame, right, if whenever he does decide to hang it up, he would be the best ever that’s never won, right? I think everyone knows that he is more than capable. I want Denny to win just so he can kind of have that on his resumé.”
Hamlin will try to do just that in his first season with crew chief Chris Gayle, who replaced Chris Gabehart as he moved into management for JGR. It was a move Hamlin initially opposed and openly criticized, but the results make it hard to doubt now.
“There are four really good cars, really good teams, really good crew chiefs. I just want to win the race and be the champion,” Gayle said. “It’s not necessarily anything for me to come in and get it for Denny kind of thing.
“Would it be extra sweet with Denny just because I know what he’s gone through and been close? Yes. I don’t know that it changes anything.”