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Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin is one of the most accomplished NASCAR Cup Series drivers of all time. Driving the #11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing over 18 years, Hamlin earned 48 Cup wins, 312 top-10 finishes, and 36 poles.
With less than two months left until the start of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, a new report came out recently about Denny Hamlin’s long-time sponsor FedEx’s earnings and that his future at Joe Gibbs Racing looks uncertain. It might be the same situation that his former teammate Kyle Busch found in the 2022 season.
FedEx is one of the largest and most important courier services, and has been Hamlin’s main sponsor for decades, just like Busch’s relation with M&M since the end of the 2022 season.
According to CNBC.com, FedEx has announced it would cut $1 Billion more in cost for 2023 following their “quarterly earnings and sales that fell from a year ago,” and they have no other option but to depend on “aggressive cost-cutting measures that were softening the blow."
If the company couldn’t renew Hamlin’s contract, then it will put Joe Gibbs Racing in trouble who already failed to attract sponsors for him.
In an earnings release, CFO Mike Lenz said:
“Our teams have an unwavering focus on rapidly implementing cost savings to improve profitability. As we look to the second half of our fiscal year, we are accelerating our progress on cost actions, helping to offset continued global volume softness.”
Denny Hamlin could retire if FedEx couldn’t extend his contract
Denny Hamlin understands that he is at the end of his racing career. During an appearance on the popular Dale Jr. Download podcast, the 42-year-old spoke about his hopes of ending his career and offered an interesting response when Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked him whether he would leave Joe Gibbs Racing and end his career driving for his own team in the future.
Denny Hamlin said:
“Not if FedEx extends. I think that I would like to retire at Gibbs with FedEx because it’s so unique to have a sponsor that has been part of the sport as long as they have and backed me as long as they have. There’s just no way I could leave them. Maybe at that point, then I just run one or two races. I would just like to retire at Gibbs with FedEx. But if things change, then things change, and you’ve got to reevaluate.”
Denny Hamlin will next be seen in action in the Cup Series at the Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023.
