NASCAR insiders predict Denny Hamlin has 'at least one more' career win

At 44 years old, Denny Hamlin is starting to get up there in age. Still, he just won three races in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. But he also just lost Chris Gabehart as his crew chief to a promotion at Joe Gibbs Racing. So, how many more wins does he have left?

Denny Hamlin and Chris Gayle have a lot to prove in 2025. After seeing the last few years of Martin Truex Jr., sans those three wins in 2023, the decline can be rapid and sudden. Does Gayle have what it takes to keep an aging Hamlin at the top of his game?

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic talked about Denny and his winning ways on The Teardown. Despite the crew chief change, these two NASCAR insiders believe we haven’t seen the last of Hamlin in victory lane.

“No. He’s got one, he’s got at least one more in him,” Bianchi said about Hamlin. “At least one more.”

His cohost went into further detail, making the argument that we very well may have seen his final win. Nothing is guaranteed.

“Yeah I think it depends on how this year goes, right?” Gluck responded about Denny Hamlin’s winning days. “Because getting a, as we’ve talked about I think in the last episode of this podcast we’ve had situations where we definitely didn’t see it coming in terms of like, somebody’s last career win, and we were caught off guard. Where you go back now and you go, ‘well, yeah, that really was.’ That could be very well the case. But I think it depends on how this year goes in two senses, right? One for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“They hadn’t won in the entire second half of the year, even though they were close, obviously. You know, are they going to come out of the gate and be a winning organization again and have that speed early in the season. If not, if they’re struggling or something, everybody on the team is trying to get to victory lane, and then you have Hamlin with a new crew chief. Which, not saying anything about either of their abilities but just the chemistry it takes to win and the communication level of what changes are needed and all that stuff. That can play a factor and that can take time. So, again, with a 44-year-old guy … Denny Hamlin’s the oldest guy in the series now with Truex retiring. But yeah, I think it’s entirely possible.”

Denny Hamlin does not have any intention of retiring any time soon. Even if he leaves Joe Gibbs, he has his own Cup Series organization. So, don’t think Hamlin will just leave in the next couple of years. But does he have another win in him? I’d say yes.