AVONDALE, Ariz. — For the first time since 2021, Denny Hamlin enters the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series season with a chance to win something that’s eluded him for two decades: a championship.
But the real kicker? Fans that aren’t already fanatics of driver No. 11 might actually want to see him pull it off.
Yes, you aren’t reading it wrong. Hamlin, the man who gets the most boos in driver introductions, the man who has embraced being NASCAR’s heel, currently ranks top five in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Most Popular Driver (MPD) voting.
“Shocking,” Hamlin remarked at Championship 4 Media Day Thursday (Oct. 30). “I don’t know that I’ve ever been in the top 10. So that in itself was quite a shock. I don’t know what’s changed; certainly, I do appreciate it.”
It was just three weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that fans got to see a side of Hamlin they normally don’t: a side overcome by pure emotion.
With four laps to go, Hamlin made the winning pass on Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 and score his 60th career Cup win, a highly coveted total he had been aiming to reach for years.
“This is the point where I kind of give the fans some sh-t, but not today,” Hamlin said while tearing up. “I appreciate all of you so much. Obviously want to say hi to my dad, family back at home. All the friends that came out here for Vegas, hoping we get 60. I didn’t think we were. Put the pedal down the last 10 laps, made it happen.”
Those boos turned to cheers. The fans got to see Hamlin up close, and they appreciated what they saw.
That moment continues to resonate with fans weeks later.
The teams are back in action at Phoenix, and in just 24 hours’ time, Hamlin has a shot at immortality.
The stakes are high, and with Hamlin hinting that the contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing he signed through 2027 might be his last, he’s running out of seasons to reach the mountain top.
Most importantly, Hamlin doesn’t just want to win a title for himself: he wants to win a title for his dad.
Hamlin has been open about the fact that his father, Dennis, has been in poor health, and his dad was one of the reasons why he was so emotional after scoring his 60th win at Las Vegas. Heading into this weekend, Hamlin believes this Sunday will be the last chance for his father to see him win it all.
The 2025 season has already been filled with memorable moments from Hamlin, and it just might be his most improbable Championship 4 appearance considering all the turmoil surrounding the No. 11 team in the offseason.
In the lead up to last year’s season finale, it was announced that Hamlin’s long-time sponsor FedEx would not be returning for 2025. A few weeks later, it was announced that long-term crew chief Chris Gabehart would be reassigned within JGR. Throw in Hamlin’s 23XI Racing team ownership and a high-profile, ongoing lawsuit against NASCAR itself, and the 2025 season arguably marked the biggest hurdle Hamlin had to face in his career after enjoying stability for years.
But Hamlin’s faced all the challenges and passed the test with flying colors. The pairing with new crew chief Chris Gayle has been an absolute success, and Gayle has helped guide Hamlin to his first six-win season since 2020.
“I didn’t know much about the guy,” Hamlin admitted. “He reminded me actually this week that he went up to Maine with me when we were looking at that very first truck that I ran for the EJP team, the Prescott team (in 2004). I said, I knew that Wheels (former crew chief Mike Wheeler) was with me. I didn’t realize that Chris Gayle was with me, as well. I think he was working out of the Xfinity shop at the time.
“It just tells you how far we’ve come. He was there right from the beginning of my Joe Gibbs Racing career. It’s amazing you can work with someone for, I guess, 19 years and not know anything about ’em. That was the case until this year, until I got to know him a little bit.
“Really appreciative of his leadership and how he handled the transition into being the leader of the No. 11.”
The sponsorship woes for the No. 11 were also resolved early on in the 2025 season, as Hamlin landed a high-profile, 17-race sponsorship deal with Progressive in March.
“As you’ve seen, Progressive has a big presence in all sports,” Hamlin said. “They’re all over every sport. NASCAR is something they were just on the commercial side of for quite some time. Obviously, they felt like pairing with me was going to be good for their brand. I certainly appreciate in them believing in me and creating this relationship.”
The No. 11 team has been humming ever since, and with Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas last month, they had the opportunity to prepare for Phoenix before anyone else.
“I was very fortunate to win the first race of the second-to-last round,” Hamlin said. “My advantage has been not only to be able to prepare more for this race. I don’t think there’s any one race that I’ve prepared for more than this one. It’s allowed this week; I’m not having to cram for a test. I was able to spread out the work over time. That way, this week is less stress oriented. It’s more relaxing and fun.
“That to me has been the biggest thing that I feel like is helpful to me, is getting in a good mental space.”
The champion has gone on to win the final race in 10 of the 11 seasons of the elimination format, and Hamlin expects no different this weekend.
“I just think the safest bet is to go out there and try to win,” Hamlin said. “I think there are some guys that are very strong at this racetrack that are not part of the final four. I can’t really think about that. I’m just trying to make sure I can get the most speed out of my car as possible. I do the best job that I can at executing.
“I think in the end, one of these four teams will win the race.”
Is the pressure on? No doubt about it, and with the three-time defending champions shut out of the Championship 4, Sunday’s title race between JGR and Hendrick Motorsports is wide open.
“There’s not a team,” Hamlin added, “I don’t believe there’s any one of us four, that feels confident we got it going into this weekend.”
No one may be confident, but what Hamlin is confident about is his mindset approaching the weekend.
“I certainly think that my way of thinking and approaching race weekends this year, this is the loosest I went into a season like not caring about points or playoffs or championships or anything,” Hamlin explained. “I just wanted to get as many wins as I could. We accomplished that goal.
“That mental mindset has been working for me. I go into this weekend the same way. Like I’m not thinking about the net goal and result of winning a championship or the net goal of beating the other three guys. It’s how can I win this weekend, and if I do, everything else will work itself out.”
If he’s able to pull it off at 44 years old, Hamlin would be the second-oldest driver to ever win a Cup title behind Bobby Allison, and he would set the record for the longest wait (in terms of full-time seasons run) before a maiden championship.
2025 is Hamlin’s 20th full-time Cup season, and Sunday could very well be his last chance at checking off the one box that has eluded him his entire career. It feels, in some way, a setup like February 1998, where Dale Earnhardt made his 20th attempt at the Daytona 500.
He broke through, taking a monkey off his back and causing an entire sport to line up and congratulate him on pit road. In a flash, the Intimidator had commanded the respect of an entire fan base and sport who had spent much of the 1990s in a love/hate relationship.
Sound familiar? I guess we’ll find out Sunday afternoon.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf