“The minute I feel like it's slipping, I'm out”: Denny Hamlin claims his performance isn't ‘tailing off’ days after 700th Cup start

Sunday's race at Nashville Superspeedway marked the 700th Cup start for Denny Hamlin. Days after the race, the veteran racer gave a candid assessment of his career longevity. Despite turning 44 and spending nearly two decades at the top, he dismissed any talk of decline and claimed to walk away the moment that changes.

Driving the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Hamlin led 79 laps at Nashville and also broke a four-race streak of finishing outside the top 15. He became just the 22nd driver in Cup history to reach 700 starts, in a sport where performance often tapers off by that point.

Reflecting on the milestone during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said:

"Usually by this time, the performance starts to go away... your performance is tailing off, and I just don't feel that way. I feel as strong as ever and I really wanted to win on 700. Will I be around to see 800? I don't think so. I think that that's probably closing. I don't know. We'll see. I've got to stay at this current level. The minute I feel like it's slipping, I'm out of here." (56:29 onwards)

Denny Hamlin began his Cup Series journey in 2005, and over the last 21 years, he has won 56 times, placing him 11th on NASCAR's all-time wins list. He's won the Daytona 500 thrice (2016, 2019, 2020) and the Coca-Cola 600 (2022), yet the NASCAR Championship has always eluded him.

Denny Hamlin stands next to the Bill France Cup trophy at Phoenix Raceway. Source: Imagn

The candid admission shows the JGR veteran's awareness of the physical and mental demands of the competition. Rather than treating his 700th NASCAR start as a moment to rest on past laurels, he views it as evidence of a driver continuing to contend for wins week after week. He went on to describe his mindset as the reason behind his longevity:

"I think my best attribute is still willing to learn. Even 20 years in, every time I go back to a track - I'm going to go race at Michigan this weekend, right? And it's probably going to be my 30-something start there. I'm gonna go there with some sort of knowledge this weekend that I didn't know the previous 34 times I was there... That's what I love about it, and why I think I've had success for so long, is that I'm always learning and I love the process that it takes to be good at it." (57:40 onwards)

He already has two wins this year with 12 regular-season races left, including Michigan this Sunday. Hamlin will chase his elusive third victory and move a step closer to his 19th career Playoffs and perhaps one final push for the ultimate prize.

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"I fought very, very hard": Denny Hamlin on Jim France's Spire Motorsports entry plan

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France (L) congratulates Denny Hamlin on selection to NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers list in Darlington. Source: Getty

On the same podcast, Denny Hamlin turned his attention to the major off-track controversy of the aborted Spire Motorsports entry, backed by NASCAR co-owner Jim France for the July Sonoma road-course race. France intended to fund a car driven by road-course specialist Jack Aitken, utilizing Hendrick Motorsports's equipment and Spire personnel. But, garage backlash over a potential conflict of interest ultimately scuttled the deal.

As both a driver and a co-owner of 23XI Racing, Hamlin gave a blunt assessment:

"I can tell you as a car owner, I fought very, very hard and opposed the fact that the France family could own charters. I think that is just wildly a conflict of interest. We saw it come to a head in IndyCar, right?... But when you own the series, the track and a team, that is just way too much. There should be laws against it, truthfully." (51:12 onwards)

Hamlin's reference to IndyCar alludes to Team Penske's controversy before the 2025 Indianapolis 500 and the subsequent personnel shakeups. In contrast to Penske's willingness to remove itself from competition, Hamlin argued that France should either divest racing interests or establish an independent entity to field entries.

NASCAR's charter structure grants guaranteed race entry and revenue sharing to 36 teams. Had the France-backed entry proceeded, critics feared preferential treatment, whether in tech support, pit road assignments or R&D access. Hamlin, a team owner himself, stressed that the mere optics of NASCAR's co-owner running a car would undermine the sport's fairness.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) leads during the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Source: Imagn

While France quietly shelved the plan, Denny Hamlin's remarks highlight the broader tension between governance and competition in modern NASCAR.