NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin admits he’s “sentimental” in making his pick to win the NASCAR Cup championship this Sunday in Phoenix.

While Martin exclusively told EssentiallySports.com that the other three finalists – William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Chase Briscoe – are all worthy contenders, Denny Hamlin has Martin’s vote to win what would be Hamlin’s first Cup crown.

“I’d love to see Denny win it, so that’s who I’m going to go with for sentimental reasons,” Martin said of the veteran Joe Gibbs Racing driver. “But who knows who’s going to win. One little glitch on a pit stop or one misstep on a restart can change everything. It’s hard to say, but sentimentally, I’d love to see Denny win it.”

The way Hamlin’s last two races have been, with mechanical issues at Talladega and a smoked engine at Martinsville, he’s scaring his fans who want him to lift that trophy more than him.

“He’s due a championship. He’s had a great year with a new crew chief, which I didn’t really expect him to have, and with his age, it gets harder to do what he’s doing at his age (Hamlin turns 45 on Nov. 18). I know, I’ve been there.”

“Honestly, he’s defying the odds and is showing to me the best Denny Hamlin I’ve ever seen. This is his time to capitalize because it could taper off at any time and start getting more difficult.”

There’s no question Hamlin has had an outstanding season in 2025. He’s led the Cup Series with six wins and reached the record 60-win milestone that had long been his goal. With 720 Cup starts under his belt, this will be the fifth Championship Four that Hamlin has been part of – and the seventh overall season where he’s finished in the top four.

Martin’s own Cup career is strikingly similar to Hamlin’s in that he finished runner-up five times but never captured a Cup championship. Still, the Batesville, Arkansas native was one of the most successful and respected drivers in the sport, winning 40 races and finishing in the top 10 in more than half of his 882 career Cup starts, ultimately earning him induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017.

As strong as he feels about Hamlin, Martin – who is putting the finishing touches on his upcoming autobiography “Never Lift” (due out next summer) – isn’t discounting the other three Championship Four contenders.

“It’s just a matter of hitting the setup just right,” Martin said. “That’s what’s going to separate it. They’re all capable of winning it.”

“So hitting the setup right so that they have the upper hand with the car is key. If it comes down to a late-race restart, those things are crazy, and if they’re in the mix near the end, any of the four have a chance.”

The setup game needs to be the best, which, as per the current situation, applies more to Joe Gibbs Racing than to team Hendrick. Because, as Martin says, whether it’s the late-race restarts or whether they’re leading out front, those scenarios give all of them an equal winning shot.

Martin enjoyed Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. It was a fairly clean race with lots of good passing, respectful competition, and the drivers who advanced to the Championship Four in Phoenix deserved their achievements.

“I thought it was a great race,” Martin said. “It felt very much like a classic Martinsville race. It was good to see it end up without a green-white-checker or a crash fest, which is what I think most people expected.”

“I thought it was a refreshing race. It was a lot of great racing, and there was plenty of action and a little bit of conversing and everything that you would expect to get from Martinsville.”

Indeed, the race was a complete entertainment package, and among other things, it saw the elimination of Team Penske for the first time in the Next Gen era. And how William Byron won the race after starting from the pole and then led a career-high 304 laps impressed Martin.

“What I didn’t expect was for the dominance that they showed,” Martin said of Byron and the No. 24 team. “It’s one thing to be in a must-win situation and be in the mix, which is usually about the best that you can muster in today’s era.”

“But the dominance they showed is very uncommon. I celebrate the dominance that they showed and the performance they showed because that’s really, really hard to do, especially in today’s racing environment.”

“I didn’t see that coming, but it was an awesome performance, for sure.”

Very true. Today, when all cars have identical setups and the parity is higher than ever, it’s a very underrated skill to lead when there’s no other option. Byron and the No. 24 team showed that skill at Martinsville, as he led all stages and 304 laps, his own career best in a single race.

Martin also gave a lot of credit to race runner-up Ryan Blaney, who needed a win to advance to the final round in Phoenix, but came up one position short of that goal.

The irony is that Blaney won the last two playoff races at Martinsville, which punched his ticket to the Championship Four in 2023 and 2024, where he won the crown in 2023 and was second to Team Penske teammate and three-time Cup champion Joey Logano in 2024.

“If you watch those guys really close, the 12 car has been historically strong on the long green flag runs,” Martin said of Blaney. “He doesn’t show anything spectacular early in the race.

“But once you get deeper into the race and start having some long runs, they really come alive. I’ve seen that for the last couple of years, and it’s been really apparent this year.”

“So for him to come from 31st to first or second was no shocker. The biggest surprise that I saw was the 24. I didn’t see that kind of performance coming, but kind of expected it from Blaney. So there were plenty of surprises and plenty of good racing all over the racetrack.”

Martin laments that Phoenix Raceway will host its sixth consecutive and last Championship Weekend. NASCAR brings the season-ending finale for Cup, Xfinity (soon to be O’Reilly Auto Parts), and Trucks back to Homestead-Miami Speedway next year.

However, NASCAR is considering having a rotating schedule for Championship Weekend that could see a number of tracks play host, including Phoenix once again, perhaps a few years from now.

“You can’t beat Phoenix for turnout, enthusiasm, for ticket sales and drawing a massive crowd, they support that racetrack unbelievably, so you can’t beat that,” Martin said. “I like the higher banks (of Homestead). I like Homestead, it feels very traditional.”

“It doesn’t mean it (Championship Four) needs to be there forever, either. I like the idea of rotating it around. I appreciate the pluses and everything that Phoenix has brought to the championship race.”

“But I look forward to it being at Homestead. And then after that, I’m sure NASCAR will surprise us with something else.”