Denny Hamlin Secures a Contract Extension at JGR Amid Rumors as He Walks the Dale Earnhardt Path

Last year, everyone was wondering if Denny Hamlin was going to team up with his own squad, 23XI, especially since his deal with JGR was taking forever to wrap up. Since then, he’s been dropping hints left and right about possibly jumping ship to 23XI. Finally, he got his contract renewal with JGR, and all that chatter died down. But then, not too long ago, after he got caught on camera talking about it with the Sports Business Journal, the rumor started up again. And when he showed up on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s podcast, the former Cup driver straight-up asked him what was up with those comments. Hamlin laid it all out, making it crystal clear that Joe Gibbs has nothing to sweat over.

The talks about Denny Hamlin moving to 23XI got him another potential contract extension

Once word got out that Denny Hamlin was eyeing a spot at 23XI, buzz about a new deal for him started flying. 

As per Fox, Hamlin was like, “There’s a few hesitations I have. One is that I want to end my career with Joe Gibbs Racing because I want to be loyal to the person that gave me my start, but yes, there is a part of me that wants to drive for 23XI, absolutely. I think, without doubt, I’ll say that I’ll certainly be racing at 23XI in at least a race at some point in my career.” Looks like even Joe Gibbs might have caught wind of Hamlin’s maybe-plans.

When Dale Jr was chatting about how his dad was racing for Richard Childress but was also getting DEI Racing off the ground, he hit Hamlin with a question about whether he’d made his stance crystal clear. Hamlin’s response was “Yeah. I mean I think that, you know, Gibbs this reaction is that hey, we, we want you longer than your current deal. Right? Let’s, let’s start working on that. That’s what, that’s how he started that conversation. But yes, it’s a daydream, right?”

Hamlin clarified that his team is still figuring things out, mentioning it’s not something that happens overnight. He admitted it’s a tough call to leave a spot where he’s pretty much guaranteed a shot at winning. However, despite everything he’s caught himself daydreaming about cruising in his own ride, for his own team, more than once.

Furthermore, he also pointed out that things used to be different back in the day—DEI had a crew that could whip up a car from scratch, get it race-ready, and hit the track running. Nowadays, everyone in NASCAR is rolling with the same type of car, so jumping ship to 23XI would be more about the name than anything else. Yet, the gear at 23XI is just as top-notch as what the JGR team has.

But piecing a team together, that’s another story. He’s knee-deep in it with the #23 car as it is. Like, they totally botched their last pit stop at Richmond. That’s the kind of behind-the-scenes action he’s talking about. He has laid it out there that it’s going to be a long haul to get 23XI to the top tier, and he’s not keen on spending his last good racing years on a building project, especially when he’s already with a team that’s on fire every week.

However, he revealed there’s one point where he would most likely run for his own team.

#11 about when he might hit the track for 23XI Racing

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On Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour”, Hamlin got real about what would be the deciding factor for him to race for 23XI. First things first, he’s all about establishing a killer pit crew because that’s huge for snagging wins.

He said that teaming up with 23XI right now isn’t that big a deal as all the cars are pretty much on the same level. But, it’s those other pieces of the puzzle, like having a sharp mind calling the shots in the pit and top-notch engineers, that need time to fall into place. Piecing together a dream team like that is gonna take a bit.

Hamlin also tossed in another reason he’s not jumping to 23XI just yet: He has got to stick with Joe Gibbs Racing till the end. However, he admitted, “There’s a piece of me itching to take a spin with 23XI. No doubt, I’ll find myself behind the wheel there for at least a race before I call it quits.”

So, when would we see him behind a 23XI car? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Read More: Dale Earnhardt Jr Worried About the Consequences of Denny Hamlin’s Controversial Richmond Move