WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Denny Hamlin doesn’t have a signed contract with Joe Gibbs Racing beyond this season—but is it the driver or 23XI Racing that’s holding the deal up?
Hamlin, 42, is having a solid year with two wins and is second in the Cup Series standings. He has spent half of his life—and all of his NASCAR career with JGR.
And while Toyota has been in the picture for 16 of those seasons and 47 of Hamlin’s 50 Cup wins, Hamlin currently appears to be in limbo.
“I intend to (stay), for sure,” Hamlin said. “It’s what I want. I think it’s what Joe wants. There’s just a lot of fine factors that are out of my and his hands. So, if I didn’t own a team, I think this would be done by now. There’s just a lot of different factors that play into it and whether we can get it done or not.
“All you hope is this late in the season everybody is putting their best foot forward to compromise and come up with the right deal for everyone.”
Hamlin could be a bigger piece of silly season than anyone had imagined. Coincidentally, so was his former teammate, Kyle Busch, one year ago. Everyone at JGR seemed perfectly happy with Busch—who over the course of 14 seasons delivered two Cup titles and 56 wins.
Arguably, Busch was more valuable to Gibbs and Toyota than Hamlin–until Busch lost his M&M’s sponsorship. After everything was said and done, Busch announced in September he was headed for Richard Childress Racing.
“I’m not trying to insinuate anything for sure, but I’m happy with Joe Gibbs Racing and Joe is happy with me,” Hamlin said. “I think certainly the Kyle situation last year, Kyle’s ask was his ask. And Joe Gibbs needed sufficient funding for the car to do it.
“From day one, to give you ‘Inside Baseball’, Joe said, ‘I could have zero sponsorship on your car. I want you and this is what we’re going to do.’ It’s different in that sense. It’s easy to draw parallels because I’m saying some things that Kyle said. Joe is saying some very similar things. But there are just more factors in play than just us, for sure.”
At Michigan, the hot tip from multiple sources mentioned meetings between 23XI representatives and Ford. With the lack of performance from Stewart-Haas Racing and the company’s contract expiring at the end of 2024, could 23XI Racing be a potential candidate?
When asked specifically whether 23XI was staying with Toyota after Hamlin won the pole on Saturday for the Go Bowling at the Glen, Hamlin replied, “We’re working on it.”
“We’re certainly very happy with Toyota,” Hamlin added. “They’ve been great to me. They helped me get this team off the ground. I’ve won the bulk of my races with their cars, so I feel like it’s a partnership that should continue.”
But if ever there was a time for fresh blood to enter the Ford ranks, now would be the time, as Brad Keselowski has exhibited during his short tenure with Roush Fenway Keselowski. Ford has relied on blue chip companies such as Team Penske—who delivered the Cup championship last year—along with Stewart-Haas Racing, a company that last won the 2014 title with Kevin Harvick. But Harvick is on his way out. And Team Penske hasn’t won since Ryan Blaney scored his sole win of the season in the Coca-Cola 600.
As with most sports, racing follows the “What have you done for me lately?” mold.
Hamlin said at Michigan that he isn’t in the market for a charter for a third team.
“I haven’t made any calls or emails looking for any in the current (environment),” Hamlin said. “There are too many unknowns and too many things that need to be worked out with NASCAR before we commit to expanding.”
One week earlier at Richmond, he told Catchfence.com, “I can make room for multiple drivers in the future, I just don’t know when the right time is.”
Could that time be next year? In the current NASCAR environment, Hamlin would need a charter to make a third team a viable operation.
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
