Denny Hamlin stands at a crossroads. On one hand, he’s gunning for his first-ever NASCAR Cup Collection title. On the opposite, a driver from his personal crew, 23XI Racing, stands in his manner. And Hamlin has made a alternative. He desires to maintain all of it on observe.
Within the post-race press convention, Denny Hamlin was requested the way it was to race in opposition to a driver from his personal crew.
Responding to the query, Hamlin mentioned, “I imply, it’s distinctive, however nothing has modified. I imply, me and Tyler’s dialogue on a weekly foundation is as excessive because it’s ever been. , I consider in him. I need him to complete second. I feel he’s acquired years and years and years and years and years to win numerous races and a championship. And my clock is, the hourglass is getting low,” he added, as seen within the video posted by Cup Scene on YouTube.
At 45, Hamlin is the oldest driver on the grid. He’s on the primary yr of a two-year contract that he says shall be his final. And after coming tantalizingly near a title final yr, Hamlin has mounted one other marketing campaign to shed the title of being the winningest Cup Collection driver and not using a title. Nevertheless, Tyler Reddick stands as his largest rival in the intervening time.
Because the standings maintain after the race at Naval Base Coronado, Reddick is the chief with 716 factors, however solely by a mere eight factors, as Hamlin is presently closing in from second place with 708 factors after 17 of 36 races this season.
Hamlin then added that possession won’t change how he helps 23XI. “So, however I’ll do every little thing I probably can to offer all of them the instruments they should go on the market and win,” he continued. “I’ll by no means maintain again any info from them or something that they ask me, as a result of that’s a part of my duty. It’s a part of the benefit that we’ve.”
For Hamlin, the Anduril 250 supplied some reduction as he completed 14th, whereas Reddick was down in twenty fifth after an incident on the observe.
However because it stands, Hamlin might have extra rivals come 2027, particularly with Toyota’s driver improvement program.
The Toyota pipeline immediately seems like NASCAR’s most harmful improvement machine
Corey Heim’s breakthrough at San Diego has fully obliterated the argument that the developmental pipeline is a future risk, for it’s already establishing itself as a present-day drive.
Heim received in simply his thirteenth Cup begin, whereas 23XI has already confirmed him for a full-time No. 35 Toyota experience in 2027.
Now this issues much more when Tyler Reddick is already on the high finish of this precise ecosystem. Reddick opened 2026 with three straight wins, together with the Daytona 500.
It signalled that his tempo alongside Heim’s fast rise is a robust indicator that Toyota has managed to show this pipeline right into a race-winning manufacturing line, nicely earlier than anybody predicted.
