Whenever Denny Hamlin chooses to retire from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition, he fully expects that Brent Crews will be the driver that replaces him in what is now the No. 11 at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin is 45 years old and has one more season left on what he expects to be his final contract. However, he also seems like the most competitive version of himself and said as much on Sunday after winning his third race of the season at Michigan International Speedway.
He also won the exhibition All-Star Race at Dover last month. Again, Hamlin says this is the best version of himself behind the wheel for reasons he easily explained.
“Just experience,” Hamlin told Motorsport.com after the race. “I was talking to Ty Gibbs before the race, and he was like ‘how many starts do you have?’ Probably 40, 30-something, 40. He’s like, man, ‘I’m at the point now where I feel like I know what I need’ and ‘I know what I’m looking for.’ And I said, ‘yeah, imagine having four times as many starts as you have.’
“Like, that’s the advantage I have every single week is that he feels comfortable where he’s at, but just add another 15 years of experience, and you just, you know the transitions of the track and like what happens when it gets cloudy, what happens when it gets sunny, what happens when the wind is this direction, that direction, all those things you just learn over time. It’s why we have the upper hand right now.”
So, it continues to be a fair question if Hamlin is actually going to retire after this contract ends next year. For the first time, Hamlin confirmed that 18-year-old Crews is perceived as the heir apparent, but his youth provided Hamlin a caveat.
“I don’t know. The weeks are a little tougher,” Hamlin said of his physical conditioning after the race on Prime Video. “I feel as though there’s three things that happen: You lose your eyesight, you lose your reaction and your body hurts. The body hurts are there. It’s there. During the week, I’m not recovering as quick. But the other two things are sharp. I want to go out like this. It’s a fantasy land to do it, but right now …
“At the end of next year … I told him just check with me in six months. Check with me in six months,” Hamlin said. “I don’t want to leave them in flux. They’ve got a great driver in Brent Crews that’s gonna be ready more than likely by the end of next year. It’d be hard — if [his contract ended] right now, it’d be really hard. But I find it hard to believe we’re going to be at this level at this time next year.”
The only team owner he has ever driven for, Joe Gibbs, said he would give him a five year deal right now if he wanted.
“I joke with him, we have a five-year deal ready, but really no, I’m dead serious,” Gibbs told Motorsport.com. “From my standpoint, any athlete that is really performing like that, I’ve had athletes at different times in football come to me and say ‘hey coach, should I come back and try it,’ and I always give the same advice.
“When you’re still performing that way, you never look back in life. So, I’ll probably say the same thing to Denny, but yeah, we reached out with that two-year deal (through 2027) and I think we want Denny to stay with us.”
Never say never?
“Never say never is a good way to put it, yes,” Coach said.
For his part, Crews is a highly regarded prospect, who has six wins at the ARCA Menard’s level and has joined the O’Reilly Series and immediately contended for wins as soon as he turned 18 and became eligible to join the JGR organization.
He already has five top-5s in 16 starts and has been praised for years for his studious nature and adaptability.
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