NASCAR insiders, Austin Cindric predict whether Denny Hamlin finally wins championship in 2025

Denny Hamlin is chasing multiple milestones this playoff season. For starters, Hamlin is one win away from 60 in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

Then there’s the championship itself. Hamlin has never won it, the only thing missing from his Hall of Fame resume. Hamlin, at 44 years old, is one of the favorites, with a series-leading five victories this season, the latest coming this past Sunday at Gateway. Will Hamlin capture win No. 60 and a championship on the same night at Phoenix Raceway? Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic says no; he believes Hamlin wins again before the championship race.

“I say spot off, only because if Denny wins the championship, he’s going to have to win the race,” Bianchi said on Monday’s Door Bumper Clear podcast. “But I think before he gets to the championship, he’s going to win another race. So, if he gets to the championship, that would be career win No. 61. So, spot off.”

Right now, Hamlin looks like the driver to beat. But if he makes it to the final four of the postseason and Team Penske has a representative there as well, Freddie Kraft wonders if Hamlin can get it done. Penske has won each of the last three championships.

“I think he does win at least one more [race] before the season ends, but Phoenix is hard,” Kraft said. “Phoenix is going to be tough because there’s an organization that the guy to my left [Austin Cindric] drives for that’s been pretty f*cking good there for the last three years and we just need to hope that we can somehow shove them out of the final four to give us a better shot at it.

“Denny’s on a heater right now — back-to-back poles, wins the race this week. But it just goes to show you… it takes the total package. … Everything has to go right to get one of these wins.”

Denny Hamlin chasing first NASCAR Cup Series championship

Austin Cindric is a Penske driver in the playoffs. Obviously, he wants to win the championship. Cindric said that while Hamlin has the upper hand now, that can change quickly in the playoffs.

“You look at the season, it’s really hard to pick [a championship favorite]. The ebbs and flows of who’s at dominate strength, I mean, right now, it’s the Gibbs guys. They’ve started the playoffs off extremely strong with all their playoff cars,” Cindric said. “But in eight weeks’ time, is that still the same? That’s my biggest question.

“From what I’ve heard from him talking, Denny sounds just as motivated to get 60 [wins] as he is to get a championship, so it should be interesting to see how that all plays out. I’m not gonna just sit here after the first two playoff races and think, ah, Gibbs has it under control.”