Amid 19-YO Drought, Denny Hamlin Lets Slip an Alternative to Fulfill NASCAR Championship Desires

Denny Hamlin is among the greatest NASCAR drivers to have not won a Cup Series championship. He is right up there with the likes of Junior Johnson and Mark Martin. The only difference in his case is that he can still manage to keep his pursuit of championship glory alive. In fact, the 2024 season is proving to be an interesting one for him, where he can contend for the title as a driver as well as a co-owner.

Now is the 2024 season going to be his last attempt at fulfilling his elusive dream? Probably not. But even if he doesn’t manage to conquer NASCAR’s highest peak this year, he has an alternative that will provide him with a similar feeling. And that is if Tyler Reddick from 23XI Racing clinches the championship, and that would satisfy the competitive hunger for the veteran JGR driver.

Can you imagine Denny Hamlin losing a championship to Tyler Reddick?

Hamlin is infamous for his stringent relationship with NASCAR fans. Every year there are jokes: Is this going to be his year? And this is something that the HGR ace has become accustomed to. However, he is laser-focused on getting the job done this time around, either driving the #11 Toyota Camry to the championship podium or seeing the #45 Camry be able to pull off the big upset.

It is hard to recall a moment of instance from the races so far this season where Hamlin has competed against his two drivers. The Talladega tragedy from the spring race comes to mind, but even then Hamlin wasn’t forcing the issue. So will he let Reddick get the better off in a hypothetical championship race to see his title dreams fade again? Well, he can’t have it both ways and if he fails in his 19th attempt, he sure wishes to see the #45 be the one that pulls off a miracle.

“I truly believe I’ve got two chances at a championship [as a driver and as an owner], and either one is really going to make me happy this year,” Hamlin said in an interview with Kelly Crandall from ESPN. Moreover, he wants both his drivers at 23XI Racing to excel and reach new heights. He’s also made a driver’s playbook that has been maintained throughout his career. And he plans to hand this playbook to his drivers to help them dodge the mistakes he made while racing over two decades.

In just four years, the team has garnered seven NASCAR Cup Series and is rubbing shoulders against the big dogs. The #45 team even clinched the regular season championship this year. It is a challenge for Hamlin to maintain a fine balance between the two roles, but it is one that he enjoys. What’s surprising to see is that his racing hasn’t taken a big hit despite the legal tussle with NASCAR.

23XI Racing’s stance over the charter dispute against NASCAR

After two-year-long negotiations and constant back and forth, 23XI Racing owners and NASCAR weren’t able to come to a consensus in signing the charter deal. All 13 Cup Series teams signed the deal on September 6, but FRM along with 23XI Racing chose not to agree to NASCAR’s terms. Rather, the two teams have taken the matter to court, filing an anti-trust lawsuit. Questioning NASCAR’s business model and labeling them as a monopoly with total control over stock car racing.

For Hamlin and his partners, the race team is also an investment, and they want a fair business proposition from the governing council. They want a fair medium where they can make returns on the millions of dollars they have invested in the sport. “When I look around, I see that the best and most competitive sports in the world understand it when teams thrive, fans benefit, and that everyone who invests in making the sport a success should share fairly in that success. With the right changes, we can certainly make that a reality in racing,” Denny Hamlin explained.

This legal dispute can stretch for a long time, and therefore the owners of the two teams have acted quickly in filing an injunction. Basically, a legal grant for them to run as chartered teams in 2025. With the current deal expiring by the end of 2024, they won’t have a contract with NASCAR, thus leaving them in a rough spot where they could lose their charters. The two parties will appear in a federal court by the end of October or in the first week of next month.