Denny Hamlin has two years left on a NASCAR Cup Series contract extension he signed with Joe Gibbs Racing over the summer but the 'deep cut' of how he was denied his first championship on Sunday makes it hard for him to envision coming back.

Denny Hamlin says he’s doing as well as one would expect two days after losing the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway.“There is not a whole lot of second-guessing, I would say,” Hamlin said.

Denny Hamlin still feels the pain of losing the NASCAR Cup title, and in a press event for the Awards Banquet, says he'll have to mull over returning in 2026.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” Paulo Coelho famously once wrote in The Alchemist. And for Denny Hamlin, the 2025 NASCAR season felt like living proof of that idea.

Denny Hamlin said Tuesday that he needed time to process his defeat in Sunday's Cup Series championship race before getting back in a car.

Kyle Larson stood tall at the end of the Championship 4 in Phoenix last Sunday, clinching his second title, which came at the cost of heartbreak for Denny Hamlin.

The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team entered the race as the clear favorite, with Hamlin leading 208 laps and appearing set to finally capture his first NASCAR Cup Series title.