NASCAR star Denny Hamlin confirms Cup Series retirement goal at Las Vegas

NASCAR star Denny Hamlin has revealed a big goal he wants to accomplish before he calls time on his career.

The 45-year-old is currently contracted to Joe Gibbs Racing until the end of 2027, inking a new two-year deal with the team in 2025.

However, when he signed that contract, the driver of the No. 11 revealed that his new deal would 'most likely' be the last of his career, although when asked if he had a specific retirement age in mind, he said several factors would come into play.

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Denny Hamlin's retirement goal

Considering the above, the idea of Hamlin retiring at the end of next season is certainly not a shocking one, although when stating the above, he made it clear it was very much a wait-and-see rather than confirmation.

Now, though, in an interview at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend with Noah Reed (via Charlie Marlow), Hamlin appeared to suggest that he will run his last Cup Series race next year when discussing a goal he has in mind for when he calls it quits.

"I'm torn on it,” Hamlin said when asked about whether or not he had a desire to run a race in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

“I would like to. Sponsorship is the biggest climb to do that, to find someone that wants to sponsor me for a race or maybe two.

“My career-ending objective was that I wanted to win in my last start in every series, and I won my last start in O'Reilly, so I don’t want to mess that up.

“Now I need to go back down to the Truck Series, win a race, quit that one, and then give myself a chance hopefully next year to win the last Cup start.”

Future focused on 23XI

Of course, whenever Hamlin does eventually retire, he will still remain heavily involved in the sport given that he is a co-owner at 23XI Racing, alongside Michael Jordan.

Jordan himself has already given Hamlin huge credit for his work within the team, and it will be exciting to see where 23XI continues to go under their stewardship.