Denny Hamlin has claimed that he 'would've begged' his boss to let him out of his contract if he'd won the NASCAR Cup Series this month.
The 44-year-old returned to his Actions Detrimental podcast this Friday for the first time since the 2025 championship was ripped from him with barely 90 seconds left at Phoenix on November 2nd.
Hamlin had dominated the championship race, but a late caution brought out by rival William Byron with just three laps to go forced overtime, with Kyle Larson snatching the title on the restart after taking just two tires on pit road.
The Joe Gibbs Racing star is still without a championship through a vastly successful career, and has admitted that the devastation of his loss at Phoenix has left him needing a break in the off-season before he can think about the sport again.
'I would've begged to quit'
Hamlin has now insisted that he intends to come back for 2026 and 2027 to fulfil his contract with JGR and finally win that elusive title, but he did admit on his podcast that he would have 'begged' to retire on the spot if he had triumphed in Phoenix.
“Listen," he said, "I would have begged Joe (Gibbs) to let me quit had I won that race. I would have. I would have, just because it would have been the perfect way for me to go out. But I, they’re not ready for that yet.
"They have to have time to work on my succession plan, and obviously, we set a date out now to at least, you know, come to when that is. We know what’s the lifeline left. But I would have certainly really, really asked him to let me end on that one had it gone well.”
As it is, Hamlin has the off-season to come to terms with his cruel defeat, before coming back in 2026 stronger than ever.
