While the career of an athlete holds tremendous prospects, it is quite short-lived. Age and physical fitness often get in the way of pursuing a never-ending liaison with a high-value sport like NASCAR. Although stalwarts like Dale Earnhardt have driven stock cars full-time till their late 40s and NASCAR legends like Greg Biffle have still not completely retired from racing, it is true that there comes a time when you just feel like that cream level of stamina is lacking in you.

And this is where Denny Hamlin is stuck. 42-year-old Denny Hamlin is approaching the cusp of transitioning to a full-time team owner. And by the time he retires, the #11 JGR driver intends to check every box on his ‘to-do list’ in the arena of NASCAR.

The contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing is perhaps an attempt to achieve pending personal goals

Lately, Denny Hamlin’s year-ending contract with Joe Gibbs, the owner, has been a hot topic of discussion for many motorsport enthusiasts. And Denny Hamlin has finally made his choice.

The dark side of NASCAR, as Kenny Wallace explained in one of his videos, might have bugged many. However, Denny Hamlin is not one of them. He has revealed several times earlier that after he is done racing, he will switch to being a team owner. However, he feels like his time as a driver is not yet over.

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Denny Hamlin could have joined his own team as a driver. However, he chose to stay with Joe Gibbs Racing because perhaps he felt like his team was still not in the top tier. During the pre-race interview at Kansas, Dustin Long of NBC Sports asked Denny why the latter ditched the opportunity of 4 or 5 more contracts with his own team for what seemed to be the last one with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Denny Hamlin admitted that he had never planned anything financially post-40 and that he was just very fortunate to have come this far with his Cup Series team. He exclaimed, “This is all just me telling myself how many more opportunities I’ll have.”

“So I wanted to compete at a high level in my final year I just don’t want to kind of trickle off I’m just way too competitive to do it. There’s no way I can stand going into the racetrack not knowing I could win, “ he added.

Watch this story: Bubba Wallace’s Spotter Uses Historic Charlotte Wreck Reference to Claim Chase Elliott Could Have Killed Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin acknowledged that there will certainly be a day when things will not go 200mph for him anymore, and before that happens, he wants to focus on something even bigger.

It is one race at a time for Denny Hamlin

When a driver in his early 20s or low 30s joins a Cup Series team in NASCAR, he might not feel the same sense of urgency that Denny Hamlin feels. Indeed, a rookie driver has a lot to learn, and losing out on one single race or even a couple more might not even be a flinch. However, that is not the case with Denny Hamlin.

The Tampa native explained, “When you’re younger you see it as a financial stabilizer. And for me, it is how many Daytona 500s do I have left. How many more opportunities can I have to win certain events that are special to me personally. Trying to accomplish a goal that I’m trying to accomplish…it really puts in perspective the urgency of accomplishing as much as you can here in short term.”

Read more: “Same Move [Kyle Larson] Made to Bubba [Wallace]”: Denny Hamlin Defends His Controversial Move Against the HMS Star

Nobody knows what the future holds. Hence, Denny Hamlin intends to utilize every opportunity to win that he has ahead of him. He admitted, “…this could be one of the best shots that we’ve had to win it all you really put an emphasis on it knowing that there’s only so many total races left. And if you wanna get to your personal goals, you gotta capitalize on every single weekend.”