Calling Denny Hamlin a driver under pressure would have been an understatement till the 2025 season. From the lawsuit to personal loss to lack of major achievement, Hamlin’s time has not been his absolute best in recent times. Now, coming into 2026, Hamlin looks towards a new dawn as he awaits a fresh start, starting from Las Vegas.

Denny Hamlin on a fresh new beginning

In a recent interview with Frontstretch, Hamlin touched upon how he no longer has outside distractions to deal with while racing professionally. Hamlin not only races full-time but also co-owns and runs a permanent Cup Series team, and this makes the job trickier.

“Better, yeah,” Hamlin said. “I certainly feel a little bit more focused on the job at hand. Fewer distractions and stuff are going on right now. So I do feel in a good groove, kind of where I’ve been in years past.”

Following this, Hamlin highlighted how the lawsuit against NASCAR, which concluded with a mutual agreement, had been an enormous headache for everyone involved, including the #11 driver. As the lawsuit was no longer relevant, here’s what the JGR star further added.

“Are things back to normal, so to speak? As far as you said, things are getting better, but what are you doing during the week now? lawsuits done, all of that. It’s back to normal as far as that’s concerned, kinda like where we were in 2024.”

Notably, Denny Hamlin went through a rollercoaster of emotions in the last couple of years. In 2024, his team, 23XI racing filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, alleging that the governing body was misusing its power and having a monopoly. The lawsuit went on for over a year before mutually concluding in December 2025.

On the private side, Hamlin lost his father to an unfortunate fire incident. On December 29, 2025, Hamlin’s father, Dennis Hamlin, passed away after sustaining an accidental house fire. The shock for Hamlin came just a month after Kyle Larson denied him the NASCAR Cup Series title in November.

Having raced in the top tier of stock car racing for nearly two decades, Hamlin did not win a Cup title, and the loss in 2025 was indeed heartbreaking for him. However, coming into 2026, the past issues do not seem to be a roadblock for Hamlin, as he sounded confident and in the groove. While Hamlin can race all he wants with a free mind, he is set to face stiff competition from a teammate at Las Vegas.

Denny Hamlin is expected to face a tough fight from his teammate

Denny Hamlin is expected to receive a tough fight during the race from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell. The #20 driver claimed the pole position, ahead of Hamlin, and will spearhead the 1-2-3 JGR attack. (Ty Gibbs qualified in third place.)

Both Hamlin and Bell are winless this season, and Las Vegas could be a fine start for them to get going in 2026. While Bell has yet to win at this track, Hamlin will start the race as a defending winner at this track, having won the South Point 400 last fall.

“I’ve talked about this a lot through the last couple of races, but I’m just super, super proud of my team,” Bell told the media after claiming the pole. “We’re finally getting back to where we need to be, and it feels good. We used to be able to qualify really well on these intermediates, and then, I don’t know, it feels like we fell a little bit off, and now we got it back. My engineers, my crew chief, my mechanics, my pit crew—everybody has been doing such a good job in 2026. It’s so fun to drive this #20 car, and I’m excited about tomorrow.”

Besides Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson are also favorites to win the race. Given the form Reddick is in, he becomes an instant favorite, and it can be said the same for Blaney, who won last week’s Phoenix race, and Larson, on the other hand, was victorious in the 2025 Pennzoil 400.