Joe Gibbs reacts to Denny Hamlin win at Dover, 58th career NASCAR win

Joe Gibbs is impressed with what Denny Hamlin has accomplished this season and in his NASCAR career. After Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, the owner and founder of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) reacted to his driver earning his 58th career win.

“I’ve got to tell you, he’s after it right now,” Joe Gibbs said to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I think that’s 58 for Denny. That’s great. At this point in his career, he is after it in the sim, working extremely hard. I just really appreciate him and his leadership with all of our other drivers, everybody in our competition meetings, really a big deal. Just proud of everybody back home. God’s blessed us with a great group of teammates. I appreciate all of them so much. Going to hand a banner again tomorrow, and that’s a big deal for us.”

Denny Hamlin has been a full-time driver with JGR since 2006, meaning he has been with the team for 20 seasons. During that time, Hamlin has earned all 58 of his victories with JGR. Hamlin has accomplished a lot in his time with the team, but the one thing he would love to do is win a Cup Series title. If that happens this season, it would be the fifth Cup Series championship for Gibbs and JGR and first since 2019 when Kyle Busch was driving for the team.

Joe Gibbs talks about the current state of NASCAR

Gibbs knows all about winning, as he won three Super Bowls at Washington before making a name for himself in NASCAR. Earlier this month, Gibbs spoke to former NASCAR star and current Fox Sports analyst Kevin Harvick about the current state of the sport.

“I think it relates all the time to our fanbase. It’s so important, and now we’re kind of focused on some of the things with streaming — we have a younger generation, how do we attract them and yet, keep our core group there? I think that is kind of where we are,” Gibbs said. “I think, for me, I really enjoy what Ben [Kennedy] has done, you know, being in the Coliseum — that opened up a whole new world. We can go to other stadiums. We can go to New York.

“… But then, the street racing. I was excited about that, and I got to tell you — Chicago, I felt like the fans loved it. Rain messed us all up and they didn’t care. They were there and I felt like both of those races were a huge plus. Now, I think we’re talking about some other road racing in the country, and I love that. I like stepping outside the box. We’ve got our core racetracks, but I really think we’re in a good place.”

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story.