Denny Hamlin has addressed questions surrounding his future in NASCAR. At 44-years-old, the Florida-born driver has confirmed that his "drive is still there and obviously the performance is still there."
Hamlin, who currently drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owns 23XI Racing with NBA legend Michael Jordan, was quizzed on his future in the sport ahead of the Cup Series race in Bristol.
“I think people like Harvick, I think he was 48 when he retired. Like, he was still on top of his game as far as I was concerned,” Hamlin said.
“I think it’s different for everyone. Others you’ve seen get to 43 or 44 and the light switch goes off. You just never know. My drive is still there and obviously the performance is still there. I’m gonna try to just win all I can this window while it is still there.
“Mark Martin did it when he was 50 and was fantastic. There’s no way I’ll ever make it that far but again, everyone’s body, mind and eyesight are all different and it goes away at different times.”
The questions come on the back of Hamlin's back-to-back wins in Martinsville and Darlington. However, despite his recent success, he continues to fight for his elusive NASCAR Cup Series championship title. Since his debut in 2005, Hamlin's best result was runner-up in the 2010 season. Over the years, he has secured 56 Cup Series wins, 365 top-10 finishes, and 43 pole awards.
Considering his achievements, Hamlin explained how he deals with the pressure and his hopes of securing three consecutive wins in Bristol:
“Yeah, but I try not to psych myself out too much about it because I think you sometimes put so much emphasis on those type of situations and you end up making silly mistakes," he said.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
"I just try to be as even keeled as I can. It is a new week. It is another great opportunity to win another race. If it just so happens that it is three in a row, that would be awesome and a very proud moment in my career, but it is not something that we set out to do each and every week. We don’t go into the season saying, alright, I want to win, at some point, three in a row this year.
"That is such a hard thing to do because all of the stars have to align perfectly like we saw last week. They did align perfectly for us. It would be fantastic – some of the greats in our sport have done it, and I haven’t. Just shows how difficult it is.”
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also commented on his potential retirement during an appearance on the Dale Jr. Download podcast. While he confirmed that it is something he needs to plan for, it is not something he is currently considering.
“Not right now. I mean, you always have to plan for it, and you want to give the team proper time to come up with their next plan as well,” Hamlin said.
“I think that running some at 23XI is something that I’d like to do. You know, Joe Gibbs Racing’s been amazing to me over the 20 years that I’ve been with them. Just fantastic, couldn’t be any better. Joe and that whole group has just been amazing.
“But you know, there’s certain things that are different. I do have a race team. You know, I really would like – even if I phased out and ran some there, that would be a cool goal of mine. Just whatever it is. Five races, 25, whatever it might be. It’d be a cool way to phase out instead of just stopping. I think I’d have a tough time just stopping. But I want to be competitive when I do it. I don’t want to do it when I’m passed my prime of winning. However that timing works, that’s how I would like for it to work, but you don’t always get to decide.”
Photos from Bristol - Race
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