Joe Gibbs responds to whether 2025 is the year Denny Hamlin finally wins a NASCAR Cup Series Championship

Joe Gibbs Racing owner Joe Gibbs was recently featured in a post-race interview with Cup Scene on YouTube. During the interview, NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass questioned the team owner about the possibility of Denny Hamlin becoming the Cup Series champion this year.

The JGR driver has performed consistently well this season. He recently won the Enjoy Illinois 300 held at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, September 7, 2025, and secured his 59th career win. Additionally, he has secured four more wins this season with 15 top-tens, 12 top-fives, and three pole positions in 27 starts.

Reflecting on Hamlin's success this season, NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass questioned the JGR owner, Joe Gibbs:

"Can this really be Denny Hamlin's year?" [02:30 onwards]

Gibbs had an answer ready for the question and told Pockrass that he hopes that Hamlin wins his first-ever Cup Series title this year. He added:

"Yeah, I think, uh, great question there. Uh, we certainly hope so. That's probably the best guy to ask, but I'll be in the background cheering. But, uh, no, really, Denny, I tell you what's impressive about Denny is his work ethic. Really, he'll be in the sim as long as Chris wants him in there. Uh, really works hard at everything. And, uh, so I would certainly hope he's got a chance for sure."

During the 240-lap race, all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers finished inside the top ten drivers on the track. While Denny Hamlin won the 300-mile race, his teammate Chase Briscoe finished as the runner-up, and Christopher Bell came in P7, followed by Ty Gibbs in P10.

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“That is what our fans want”: Joe Gibbs opened up about stock car racing’s current state

Earlier in July 2025, JGR team owner Joe Gibbs sat down with NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick on his Happy Hour podcast on YouTube. During the podcast, Gibbs highlighted the team's fans' sentiments along with the current state of the sport.

Joe Gibbs Racing made its Cup Series debut by competing in the 1992 Daytona 500. Since then, JGR has secured 224 wins in the Cup Series, 217 in the Xfinity Series, and 43 wins in the ARCA Menards Series. Additionally, the team has secured 166 pole positions, along with 972 top-fives and 1595 top-tens in the series in 3283 starts.

Reflecting on that, Joe Gibbs highlighted that the fans want the team to put its best drivers on the grid every weekend. He added:

"We went Gen 7, so that is definitely a different wrinkle. Yes, but to me, I think our sport here here's what I think about our sport. I hope that we'll continue with the idea of being we want to reward the best team and the best driver every single weekend. That is what our fans want. They want to see they know how hard it is, and they want to see somebody for the weekend challenge us. So anything that kind of holds us back on any of that, I'm, you know, I'm hoping that we stay focused on because it is we all in pro sports look at something." [29:09]

JGR features four full-time entries in the Cup Series, featuring Denny Hamlin driving the #11 Toyota Camry XSE. He is followed by Christopher Bell in the #20 Camry, Martin Truex Jr.'s replacement, Chase Briscoe in the #19, and Ty Gibbs in the #54 car.