NASCAR insiders handle Denny Hamlin’s possibilities of claiming his first Cup Sequence championship: “Spot off”

Denny Hamlin is the longest-tenured driver within the NASCAR Cup Sequence with out a championship. The closest he has come to profitable a title was again in 2010, when he completed the season runner-up in factors with eight wins to his identify. Having mentioned that, is 2025 lastly going to be Denny Hamlin’s yr?

Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic addressed the query in an episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast. Sounding “spot off” on the matter, Bianchi defined that Denny Hamlin has to win the Championship Race at Phoenix to earn the last word honor.

However earlier than that occurs, Bianchi predicted that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will win one other race.

“If Denny wins the championship, he is gonna need to win the race,” Bianchi mentioned. “However I feel earlier than he will get to the championship, he is gonna win one other race. So if he wins the championship, that may be profession quantity 61, so spot off.”

Subsequent up for Denny Hamlin is the Bass Professional Outlets Night time Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He made the Spherical of 12 by his victory at World Broad Expertise Speedway on Sunday, so he doesn’t have to win at Bristol to advance additional into the playoffs.

But when he does win the occasion, it’ll mark his sixtieth profession victory and tie him with former NASCAR driver and Cup Sequence champion Kevin Harvick for fifth on the all-time wins checklist. Scheduled for September 13, the 500-lap race might be televised on USA with reside radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio from 7:30 pm ET.

Denny Hamlin’s victory at Gateway brings dwelling a milestone achievement for Toyota

On Sunday at World Broad Expertise (Gateway), Denny Hamlin bagged Toyota’s two hundredth win within the NASCAR Cup Sequence. Ranging from the pole and main a race-high 75 of 240 laps, it marked Hamlin’s fifth victory of the season as properly.

“Profitable 200 NASCAR Cup Sequence races is an unbelievable achievement for everybody at Toyota and TRD, U.S.A.,” Tyler Gibbs, president of Toyota Racing Improvement, U.S.A., mentioned in a press release. “In our almost 20 years of competitors within the NASCAR Cup Sequence, we now have been lucky to companion with excellent groups and gifted drivers, which has allowed us to proceed to attain on-track.”

“Though we are going to have fun this accomplishment, everybody at TRD continues to give attention to and put together for the stability of the season as we attempt for one more Cup Sequence title,” he additional added.

Joe Gibbs Racing is Toyota’s winningest group with 166 victories to its identify. Notably, 2025 marks Hamlin’s twentieth yr within the Cup Sequence with the Huntersville-based race crew.

He’s at the moment signed with the crew by the 2027 NASCAR season. Per reviews, it’s anticipated to be his closing contract extension with the crew as he plans on retiring following its completion.