Denny Hamlin reveals Carl Edwards is shooting up list of NASCAR drivers he admires: 'Respect him so much'

For a moment, it looked like Denny Hamlin was going to end his NASCAR career much in the same way Carl Edwards ended his, abruptly. However, we know that he is racing again in 2026 and is likely going to finish out his contract through 2027 before hanging it up.

Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards used to be teammates. Still, the two drivers have never exactly been close with one another.

This week on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin addressed his relationship with Edwards. He also discussed his newfound respect for Edwards and his career in NASCAR.

“I certainly got more of a personal understanding and certainly admiration for Carl Edwards here lately,” Denny Hamlin explained. “Just over the last year, certainly when he went away from the sport, at that time, I didn’t know, I was teammates with him, but I didn’t know a whole lot about Carl. You know, we didn’t have a ton of conversations.

“Even as professional teammates. I mean, when we had to come together on Mondays, that’s what we did, but it was separate after that. … There’s people, always ask me all the time now, ‘Who do you admire or who do you look up to on and off the racetrack? Another driver.’ And for the longest time, my answer was Jimmie Johnson, and it’s still there. He’s still the guy as far as my respect level for what he did on the racetrack and who he is off the racetrack. But like Carl Edwards is shooting up that list hard.

“Just simply because, as I’ve gotten to know him through interviews that we’ve had, we had one sit-down kind of at Pocono. We’ve had production things where we’ve had interactions, you know, post-race. I think it was a little bit misreported that like I called Carl after the race. That is not correct. I don’t want Carl to think that I’m some liar who is telling the media that for sympathy, that’s not true. We exchanged messages, and we did talk, but I didn’t specifically reach out to Carl. I think that was a little bit of a misrepresentation. But I had some good conversations with him.”

Denny Hamlin went through heartbreak. Carl Edwards did too. Both were victims and beneficiaries at times of the system that exists today in NASCAR. You think of Edwards and the “what ifs?” Like, what if he raced another 10 years? He’s not much older than Hamlin, and he still looks like he’s in great shape.

In 2015 and 2016, Edwards won five races total. He was still in the prime of his racing career. Yet, he walked away from it all. Hamlin had that option. It was in front of him after Phoenix two weeks ago. Yet, he’s staying. A lot could be learned from both of their stories and their NASCAR careers.