At the heart of his NASCAR story is a bond built on belief, from the very beginning. When Joe Gibbs Racing brought Denny Hamlin into its fold in 2005, he wasn’t a polished star; he was a raw talent from short-track Virginia seeking a break. JGR, led by Joe and his son J.D., took that chance, offering Hamlin his Cup debut and then a full-time ride. Over two decades later, that leap of faith has paid off. Hamlin has remained the only driver to ever pilot the iconic #11 Toyota, becoming the longest-tenured driver in team history and helping JGR build into a motorsports dynasty.

Joe Gibbs himself has celebrated that journey, noting, “To think about where he is in his career, how hard he works at it, his leadership means so much to us,” after his win at Dover. His career tally stands at 58 Cup wins, placing him 11th all-time and the top winner in JGR history. The team’s renewed partnerships and extended resources have allowed Hamlin to continue competing at the highest levels more than 700 starts into his career. His new multi-year contract, announced in July, also ensures green flags in the #11 through at least 2027. And Hamlin has made it clear that his allegiance will lie with the team till the end of time.

Hamlin stays true to the team that bet on him first.

In reflecting on his two-decade bond with JGR, Hamlin put it plainly in a pre-race interview before the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When asked how much this journey meant to him, Hamlin replied, “A lot. I mean, they’re the ones that went out on a limb and hired me when I had nothing, and nothing of nothing.” Staying with JGR hasn’t just been about performance or comfort; it’s about honoring the belief Joe and J.D. Gibbs had when others saw nothing. In Hamlin’s eyes, switching teams would feel like betraying the family that backed him when he had none.

When JGR noticed Hamlin’s raw talent in late-season starts during his NASCAR Busch Series days, they took a bold risk: promoting him into the 2005 Cup Series lineup. At that moment, Hamlin was virtually unknown, just a sandwich maker and later working for his father’s trailer shop business in Virginia with limited funding and no major backing. Yet JGR saw something special. Over the next two years, he would clinch Rookie of the Year in 2006 and score his first wins at Pocono. That leap of faith transformed both a driver and a franchise, as Hamlin helped nurture the team into a multi-championship powerhouse with other elite drivers like Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Hamlin continued, “They took a chance on me, and Judy obviously believed in me quite a bit. So, yeah, you want to pay back that loyalty to the family that gave you that start.” The family has immensely helped Hamlin in this treacherous but memorable journey ahead. Judy Gibbs, the beloved wife of Joe Gibbs, was known for her exceptional ability to connect with drivers on a deeply personal level, treating them much like her own sons. On the other hand, J.D. Gibbs was a pivotal figure who first recognized Denny Hamlin’s raw talent. Around 2004, J.D. traveled to Hickory Speedway in North Carolina and spotted Hamlin working on late-model cars. He was so impressed that he arranged a test and ultimately placed him in an Xfinity start there, but did it under rainy and challenging conditions.

“Of course, Denny killed it,” Joe Gibbs reminisced. Hamlin also weighed in on that event. “It essentially got me my job in the No. 20 car,” Hamlin recounted in April. “I remember going there for the very first time: Tony Stewart was there in a Cup Series car, and I was there in the Xfinity Series car, and back then, if you wanted to go somewhere and test, you just went and tested. So, they let me run, and I must have pounded the wall off Turn 2, at least the first 20 laps in a row, and destroyed the car. Finally, I got the knack of it and the feeling of it, and after that, I just took to it.” That moment marked the beginning of a bond forged on belief, risk, and immediate results, and Hamlin still holds on to that memory dearly.

For Hamlin, the deal wasn’t about chasing bigger paydays, but about belonging. “And it’ll be well over 20 years that I’ll be with them,” he continued. “And couldn’t imagine racing for any other organization, much less family.” He stressed that this extension felt right because of his deep connection to the Gibbs family and the legacy they built together.

Hamlin revisits JGR’s technical breakthrough that defined an era

During a JGR debrief, Denny Hamlin reflected on his rollercoaster relationship with Dover and the engineering secrets that shaped careers behind the scenes. Among the memories, he pointed to a defining advantage JGR had during the mid-2000s, one that changed the trajectory not only of his career but especially that of Tony Stewart. “JGR was way on top of its game back then…they were one of the very first to implement coil binding the front springs,” Hamlin revealed. That innovation allowed cars to lock the front suspension and create maximum downforce.

Hamlin detailed just how potent that setup was for Stewart. “Always…left front was lower than everybody else’s on the racetrack,” he noted, explaining how that physical edge translated to real-world performance. Even as NASCAR teams scrambled to adapt, the consistency of JGR’s engineering crew set them apart. “We had a really, very strong group of engineers there that essentially ran the same front springs at every racetrack,” Hamlin said, emphasizing how rare that level of technical confidence and repetition was in the era.

Reflecting on its impact, Hamlin didn’t hold back. “I couldn’t tell you the advantage that Tony Stewart had the entire 2006 season versus the field, it was a significant amount of downforce he had over the field…and he won the championship that year,” he reflected. While Stewart went on to win his second Cup title, Hamlin is still chasing his first, underscoring how one era-defining engineering choice still echoes in the careers of two of NASCAR’s most impactful drivers.