LONG POND, Pa. — With every victory by Denny Hamlin, speculation about his future grows and talks of retirement are questioned.
Hamlin signed a two-year extension with Joe Gibbs Racing that runs through 2027, and he insists that will be his last season of NASCAR Cup Series competition. At 45, he’s the oldest full-time driver in the field from week to week, but he can’t stop winning.
He took another checkered flag Sunday at Pocono Raceway for his third consecutive victory and passed the late Kyle Busch for sole possession of ninth place on the all-time wins list with his 64th on the top-tier series. Last weekend at Michigan International Speedway, he tied Busch, who was one of his teammates at JGR from 2008-22 before moving to Richard Childress Racing.
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, died of sepsis brought on by complications from pneumonia at age 41 on May 21. Busch finished third in the Coca-Cola 600 three days later, then started his streak May 31 by winning at Nashville Superspeedway for the first time in his career. Sunday’s win was no surprise, though, as his eighth at Pocono, and it came after he started in pole position for the third consecutive race.
His recent success — it is his fourth win of the season, not including his first-place finish at the All-Star Race, which has a $1 million prize but no points for the series standings — has renewed talk that Hamlin should reconsider retirement when his deal with JGR expires.
“I think for Denny, he wants to leave on top, right? He doesn’t want to leave where it was one year too long,” said JGR co-owner Heather Gibbs. “At this rate, what he’s producing out there, it’s not something you would not consider. We want the best drivers in our cars. Our teams work to put the best cars on track.
“If it works out and he’s still producing and he wants to, it’s a huge commitment for him, he’s got his own team that he kind of wants to run. It’s hard when you dangle checkered flags in front of him, too. He so far has put a stop to such talk despite performing at the highest level of his long career.”
Hamlin wasn’t even sure he wanted to return to honor this two-year extension after coming painfully close to winning his first Cup Series championship in the 2025 season finale last November and mourning the death of his father in a house fire in December.
He understands he’s performing at a high level in the JGR No. 11 Toyota right now, but as far as continuing past 2027?
It’s not yet on his radar despite how strong he’s been on the track.
“I would certainly say it’s the best we’ve been,” said Hamlin, who also co-owns 23XI Racing, a fellow Toyota team in the Cup Series. “We come to the race track every week knowing we got a great shot to win. The team’s doing an amazing job giving me exactly what I need in the car every single week. That’s why we’re winning.”
Sunday’s win came nearly 20 years to the date after his first career victory, which was at Pocono on June 11, 2006. Hamlin said Pocono, known as the “Tricky Triangle” for its unique layout as a tri-oval, has become “like a second home for me.”
“First win here, so special here. Pocono has mastered the fan experience from the crowd in the stands to the infield here,” Hamlin said. “Just so happy for this whole Joe Gibbs Racing team. The pit crew is flawless right now. We got it all going.”
Hamlin took a jab at NASCAR after Sunday’s race, noting that it was technically his ninth victory at Pocono, but he was stripped of the win in 2022 when officials said his car failed inspection after the race.
“They aren’t getting that checkered flag back,” Hamlin said.
Sunday he became the 31st driver to win three races in a row on the top series during NASCAR’s modern era (1972-present), joining a list that includes NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers Richard Petty — who did it twice (1966-67) — Bobby Allison (1971) and Darrell Waltrip (1981). Hamlin is also the second to join the club this year, with 23XI’s Tyler Reddick winning the first three races of the season.
Reddick finished second at Pocono to remain atop the standings with 704 points, just 19 ahead of second-place Hamlin.
“Everyone is racing hard for track position. Some of it’s just bad luck, I guess, where you catch cars,” said Reddick, who won five of the first nine races this season but has come up empty in the seven points races since then. “It’s a bummer. I mean, if the 11 wasn’t the winner, you could consider this a good day. I know we finished second. Scoring the points we did just didn’t get the job done.”
Toyota drivers have won 10 of 16 races this season, and JGR has accounted for five of them.
William Byron finished third in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
“I think this is probably the first time in four months that I’ve been able to drive the car this way, just be able to make moves and have the balance stay with me,” Byron said.
John Hunter Nemechek finished fourth in a Toyota for Legacy Motor Club and was out front for 42 laps, double the number he has led the past two years. Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson was fifth for Hendrick and Erik Jones was sixth for LMC as Toyota drivers took four of the top six spots.
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher was sixth in the best finish for a Ford driver.
The start of the race was moved up two hours from its originally scheduled time — from 3 p.m. to 1 ‚ to avoid expected rain in the Pocono Mountain region that could alter the completion of the 400-mile race. By doing so, all inclement weather was avoided and the race was run without interruption.
The schedule continues as NASCAR makes its inaugural visit to the San Diego area with a first-of-its-kind street race at Naval Base Coronado. Next weekend will mark the stock-car racing giant’s first time competing on an active military base, with races Friday, Saturday and Sunday for its three national series.
San Diego will host just the second street course in NASCAR’s modern era. The Chicago street course hosted two national series each of the past three seasons. The race weekend will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy.