When Denny Hamlin lost the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship in the manner he lost it at Phoenix Raceway a couple weekends ago, the name "Carl Edwards" resurfaced in discussions among NASCAR fans.
Edwards was brutally denied the 2016 title after a controversial caution and chaotic ensuing restart at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and after the race, he committed to returning in 2017 and coming back stronger. But before the 2017 season began, he abruptly retired, and he hasn't run a NASCAR race since.
Hamlin's championship loss was arguably even more of a blow, and he said after the race that he couldn't even think about getting back behind the wheel of a race car in the mental state that the Phoenix finish effectively forced upon him.
Denny Hamlin confirms retirement option
The 60-time race winner, by far the winningest driver in Cup Series history without a championship to his name, signed a contract extension during 2025 to remain with Joe Gibbs Racing through the 2027 season, and he has long admitted that it will probably be his final contract to compete at the Cup level. At 45 years old, he's already the sport's oldest full-time driver.
Yet it might be the championship loss that keeps him in the sport come February – not the reason the No. 11 Toyota sees a completely new driver in 2026, unlike in 2017 when Joe Gibbs Racing named Daniel Suarez the new driver of the No. 19 Toyota following Edwards' late change of heart.
“I would have begged Joe to let me quit had I won that race,” Hamlin recently said on his Actions Detrimental podcast.
Winning that race (or even finishing in the top three, given the fact that champion Kyle Larson won the title with a third place finish) would have allowed Hamlin to go out on top after finally ascending to NASCAR's peak.
Whether or not winning championships has become cheapened in the modern playoff era is immaterial; it's obvious that they still mean something, given how devastated Hamlin was – and even given how disappointed some of his most passionate haters were, for that matter, over exactly how he was denied the 2025 crown.
Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 winner, a three-time Southern 500 winner, and a Coca-Cola 600 winner. His seven crown jewel wins are the most among active full-time drivers, and he could have retired five years ago and still been a first-ballot Hall of Famer with no questions asked.
What his admission does, however, is open up the door for the possibility that he retires after the 2026 season, should he manage to finally win the title next year. Going out on top is clearly something he's thought about, to the point where it might well have happened earlier this month.
But maybe, just maybe, the cruel nature of the Phoenix finale was simply a sign that he's not meant to be done competing quite yet.
Expect Hamlin to be back behind the wheel of the No. 11 Toyota for his 21st season as a full-time driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in February's Daytona 500, which is set to be shown live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15.