NASCAR insiders react to Denny Hamlin 60th Cup win, championship run

Denny Hamlin is Championship 4 bound after taking the checkered flag in Sunday’s Round of 8 playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The win, No. 60 of his NASCAR Cup Series career, kept the dream alive for Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic.

Bianchi has long made it known he is team chaos. He would love nothing more than to see Hamlin win his first championship about a month before taking NASCAR to court.

“My dream of Denny Hamlin winning the championship and having NASCAR executives hand him the championship trophy amid a lawsuit, a federal lawsuit, continues on,” Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast. “And the dream, I pray to the holy Gods that this happens, that he wins the championship and carries that trophy into court on Dec. 1 and sets it down on the table in the courtroom. That is what I want to see happen. Today, thanks to his remarkable drive at the end, his brilliance at the end, that dream is still alive.”

For all of his success on the racetrack this season, it could be easy to forget Hamlin is heavily involved in 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ lawsuit against the sanctioning body. They are set to go to trial Dec. 1.

Denny Hamlin locked into Championship Race at Phoenix

That is his life off the racetrack. When he’s inside the No. 11 Toyota, he’s perhaps the best driver in the sport. At 44, Hamlin is hitting his peak at the perfect time. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic is blown away by what Hamlin has been able to do in 2025.

“This was one of those moments where it’s just like wow, sometimes NASCAR just gives you these amazing, sort of holy crap, I can’t believe that just happened. The storylines that are all intertwining, we’ve talked about Denny trying to get 60 career wins, and I think, clearly, I didn’t think it was gonna happen this year. Earlier this year he was talking about 60 wins, we were like is he ever gonna get there because he had a new crew chief, Chris Gabehart was gone, you’re putting him with Chris Gayle who hadn’t had a ton of success with a proven track record. … At almost age 45, starting over with a brand-new crew chief, we said numerous times Denny — I think I said last year, [and] the year before — this is Denny Hamlin’s last, best chance and it’s passed.

“You just don’t see drivers have this much success at this age. A lot of drivers are retiring, a lot of drivers are way past their prime and just not winning anymore, and a driver like Denny Hamlin starting over in a season when you didn’t have much sponsorship — he had blank haulers at Bowman Gray — it [was] will he ever win again. I think that was more of a question than will he win a series-high six races this year, will he win the championship. As this year has unfolded with all the chaos and the lawsuit stuff, he then gets win No. 60 to not only tie for the top 10 on the all-time wins list, but to launch himself into the Championship Race. … It’s sort of unbelievable.”