{"id":131574,"date":"2025-09-09T16:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/131574\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T16:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:02:09","slug":"i-have-way-too-much-pride-for-that-nascar-ace-denny-hamlin-opens-up-about-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/131574\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI have way too much pride for that\u201d NASCAR Ace Denny Hamlin Opens Up About Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denny Hamlin<\/a> is turning ready to turn 45 on November 18th the Joe Gibbs Racing<\/a> veteran is still proving he\u2019s one of the best in NASCAR. With 59 career Cup Series wins he\u2019s one win away from 60 and the emotional countdown to the end of his driving career.<\/p>\n

Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway he got his 5th win of the 2025 season, more than any other driver so far. He locked himself into the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs and proved he\u2019s still one of the top dogs in the sport.<\/p>\n

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Next up is Bristol Motor Speedway where Hamlin has 4 wins. With history on the line he didn\u2019t mince words:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to get 60 at Bristol \u2014 that would be awesome.\u201d (NASCAR.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

A win there would tie Hamlin with Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time wins list.<\/p>\n

Also Read:: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin Predict Early Eliminations in NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin Focused on Ending Career at the Top\"NASCAR:<\/p>\n

Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

But even as he\u2019s piling up wins, Hamlin is just as focused on when, and how, he\u2019ll get out. During the press conference<\/a> after his Gateway win, he was blunt about what he won\u2019t do:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just got to be a means to an end. I\u2019m just not going to leave the sport on my deathbed\u2026 just leaking oil, just running in the back of the pack\u2026 I have way too much pride for that. I\u2019m way too cocky for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin said he wants to retire while he\u2019s still competitive, not after his performance has slipped:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just no way. I want to be able to win my last race, and to do that, I\u2019m gonna have to retire when I\u2019m racing like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

His contract with Joe Gibbs Racing goes through 2027 but he said the decision could come sooner if he feels like it behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust knowing that I put a timeline on the end. That to me has been the number one factor. I talked to Harvick the other day. I was just like, I knew exactly how many races were left. The countdown has begun\u2026\u201d (Speedwaydigest<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer Denny Hamlin signed a multi-year extension<\/a> with JGR to secure his future and the team\u2019s. But even with that security, his focus is on making sure his career ends on his terms.<\/p>\n

For fans, the big question remains: can Hamlin win the Cup Series championship before he hangs up his helmet? Whatever the answer, he\u2019s made one thing clear, he won\u2019t stick around long enough to fade away.<\/p>\n

Also Read:: Top 5 NASCAR Playoff Drivers Share Their 2025 Championship Chances, Including Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson<\/a><\/p>\n

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Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin is turning ready to turn 45 on November 18th the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran is still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[29779,49,48,48388,14056,3932,12101,25423,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-131574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-bristol-motor-speedway","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cup-series-playoffs","12":"tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","13":"tag-denny-hamlin","14":"tag-joe-gibbs-racing","15":"tag-kevin-harvick","16":"tag-nascar","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}