Denny Hamlin reacts to Martin Truex Jr. retirement from full-time racing at Phoenix

Denny Hamlin said goodbye to a teammate and a fellow NASCAR Cup Series veteran this past weekend, as Martin Truex Jr. retired from full-time racing following the conclusion of the race at Phoenix.

Truex is someone Hamlin has raced against for the better part of two decades, and the two drivers share a unique past, both on and off the track. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin waxed poetic about his now-former teammate, wishing him the best in his future endeavors.

“What can I say about Truex? Just a constant professional as a teammate,” Hamlin stated. “Certainly somebody that I admire off the racetrack, as well. His — how independent he is. He’s independent off the racetrack, and just a great professional on the racetrack.

“We’ll definitely miss Martin and everything he brings to Joe Gibbs Racing, and wish him the best.”

Alas, it’s obvious Hamlin has plenty of love for Truex, and he’d love to keep their relationship strong, even as the latter heads into retirement. One unintended consequence of the matter though is Hamlin has been forced to think about his own mortality, and he addressed whether retirement has crossed his mind later in the episode.

“Only on Mondays when I feel like shit. I have a bad race, my body hurts, and it’s like, uh, man,” Hamlin said, regarding whether he considers retirement. “But every Sunday, I get in that car and I’m like, ‘I got a chance to win.’ And that’s just something that’s going to be hard for me to give up. Surely one day there will be a light switch that flips on that I’m no longer as quick as I was and things like that, but I still feel like I can win it, and I feel like I can win every week and that’s what drives me. Those that know me or play golf with me or play basketball with me knows I love the competition and it’s how I get my fill. And y’all asked me on the plane, would ownership fill that, if I stopped racing would ownership fill my competitive bucket? 

“And I say, partially. Like, it’s still different when you go out and do it yourself. Now, I would take a lot of pride in being the owner of 23XI knowing that, alright I had my hands in all parts of building this team from scratch. From competition, challenging the crew chiefs and the engineers on their thinking, the drivers on their techniques. Like, I take a ton of pride in that. But it’s still different than doing it yourself. I think I would struggle with that part of it, and I’ve always heard people that have said, ‘When those that choose to retire, they know.’ I’m not in the know.”

Time will tell what the future holds for Denny Hamlin behind the wheel, but it’s evident he’s not going to be joining Martin Truex Jr. in retirement anytime soon. He remains one of NASCAR’s best, and the future is bright for the Joe Gibbs Racing superstar, despite his age.