Denny Hamlin breaks down in tears when asked what winning championship for Gibbs family would mean to him

Denny Hamlin has several motivating factors heading into Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Yes, Hamlin wants to win his first career championship for himself.

But even more so, Hamlin wants to win it for his father Dennis, who is dealing with a serious health issue back at home. There’s also the Gibbs family, who took a chance on him two decades ago. Joe Gibbs delivered a special message to Hamlin ahead of the race, which was shown on the NBC broadcast. Asked what it would mean to win a championship for the Gibbs family, Hamlin immediately got emotional and broke down in tears.

“It’s hard… man, I’m trying my best,” Hamlin told Jeff Burton of NBC Sports. “The Gibbs family is just so special to me and obviously, everything he’s done for my career and J.D. [Gibbs]. We’re gonna give it our all today.”

It was J.D. Gibbs, the late son of Joe Gibbs, who first believed in Hamlin when he was racing Late Model cars in Virginia. He pushed for his father to sign Hamlin, and that decision has paid off in a big way. Hamlin was emotional after his win last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to put him in the Championship 4 and after the race, he talked about the impact J.D. Gibbs had on his life.

“J.D. was my road dad, my track dad,” Hamlin said. “When J.D. passed, it’s more of Joe now. I think that father figures are really, really important to make sure you do the right things. They’re the ones that kind of keep you in the lane of life. I know that I do outlandish things and say outlandish things at times, but I always know that eventually I have to answer to the higher power, and on earth here it’s Joe.”

Denny Hamlin: Phoenix could be father’s ‘last chance’ to see him win NASCAR Cup Series championship

As you can see, Hamlin is racing for so much at Phoenix. His dad will certainly be watching in what Hamlin admitted could be his final chance to see him win a championship.

“Obviously, my dad has been a huge fan of mine, and I knew he was watching, and he knew how much 60 meant to me. Realistically, I know this is his last chance to get to see it if it does happen,” Hamlin said earlier this week on Inside The Race. “… They’re the ones that made the sacrifices ultimately, right? I’m the one who said this is what I want to do, and they just had to figure out what all they were willing to sacrifice to make that happen. This is the chance if we’re going to do it, and he’s going to see it, it’s going to have to happen now.”