At the age of 45, it feels almost unreal to imagine that a driver can go from first to last and claw back to first again to win a race. Yet Denny Hamlin did it with his teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe putting the pressure on him in the final lap. Yet, Hamlin insists that 2027 might be his last season ever in the Cup Series, and one cannot help but draw a parallel between him and the oldest player in the NBA — LeBron James.

Despite having played 22 seasons in the NBA already, the 41-year-old James isn’t looking to slow down. Meanwhile, Hamlin can also still win in the Cup Series if he wants to. So, when he was questioned with the analogy, the Toyota driver broke down the difference between the two sports to explain his reason for walking away.

“Yeah, the difference is LeBron is able to—he has teammates,” said Hamlin while talking to Sirius XM Radio. “He is the missing piece of a team that can win a championship. I am too, but I am a bigger piece of the puzzle.

“So I feel as though it’d be difficult for me, if I knew that I lost some of my skill set, to really, truly believe that I can go out there and win a championship in a 10-race Chase.”

Understandably, Denny Hamlin and LeBron James might be facing a similar situation, but their sports are polar opposites of each other. More essentially, one is an individual sport at the end of the day, and another is a team sport. If you look at the Cup Series rankings, there is no doubt Hamlin is one of the best drivers on the track. He is a feared opponent. But he wants to call it a day after 2027 to end his career on a high note.

“My goal has always been to be able to win my final race,” said Hamlin. “I would love to win my last race in the Cup Series. That’s against the type of scenario, really hard to do, but I at least want to be capable of it and know that I have a chance.

“My ego is very paranoid of the downtrend, and it is going to come. We don’t know when it is. I just want to get ahead of it before it actually does. And sometimes, you have to leave some on the table and say, ‘I am not running next year.’ I could, but I am not going to.”

He isn’t incorrect. Last season, James had to face the wrath of many Lakers fans as he had a down season. Hamlin is currently the oldest driver on the NASCAR grid and simply wants to stay ahead of the curve and leave before such a situation even comes that he turns from a hero to a villain for his team or fans. Of course, there will also be many drivers in the newer generation who can compete at the same level as him. And ultimately, the glory of ending one’s career on a winning note is something Hamlin craves deeply.

At Darlington three years ago, Hamlin bid goodbye to the Xfinity Series with a victory. Strategically, Hamlin made late-stage moves to lead 14 laps on his way to the victory lane.

“We really did a good job of maintaining everything that we had,” he said during his post-race interview.

But these stories are more like fairy tales in the world of NASCAR.

Let’s take a recent example. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin started racing in NASCAR around the same time. Busch was undoubtedly more successful than Hamlin in every aspect of NASCAR. He is a two-time champion and has won 234 races across the three NASCAR national series.

Despite his accolades, the media and fandom didn’t think twice before criticizing him over his winless slump for the past three years. He was the same driver who had maintained an amazing record of 19 consecutive seasons with a win. But when his losses started looking more pronounced than his victories, he was no longer a dominant force in the eyes of the NASCAR community.

Hamlin likely wants to avoid this outcome.

His tragic loss in the final race last year was a prime example of the same. Had Hamlin quit NASCAR after 2025, he would forever be known as the driver who could never win a championship. Yet, Hamlin knew that he could compete equally or better in the upcoming season and kept racing. Now, he is looking forward to another championship battle and a potential title before he ends his NASCAR career.

Can Denny Hamlin win it all this time?

Sitting in second place in the driver standings, 97 points behind Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin has won two races this year. There’s no doubt that Hamlin’s fiery pace from last year survived or even got better this season. 14 races into the season, and Hamlin has successfully passed the threshold of qualifying for the Chase.

At this point, Hamlin’s eyes are set on the Regular Season title and the bonus points to start the Cup Series post-season. With the way Toyotas are performing, it is highly unlikely for Hamlin to lose his spot and drop out of the top three. Not only that, but Hamlin regularly finds himself running near the front row during the race.

Denny Hamlin has nine top tens and seven top fives as of Nashville’s Cup race. His only obstacle is his unusual ability to fumble the race restarts, especially during overtime. Even he admits that.

“No weaknesses other than my restarts. I’ve got to work on that.”

He has already lost two wins to race restarts this year. First, it was Kansas, where he lost to Tyler Reddick. Next came Texas, where Hamlin was unable to defend his lead and gave up the win to Chase Elliott.

Considering how a race restart ended up stealing his championship title away from him for no fault of his own last year, Hamlin would want to work on his skills during the short runs and overtime starts. Perhaps with that, he can finally become the champion that he desperately wants to be.