Denny Hamlin Names Rising Star as His Successor at Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing is in the midst of a racing legend with Denny Hamlin achieving his 63rd career victory at Michigan International Speedway. The mark of excellence goes down in history with bittersweet memory, as Hamlin tied the late Kyle Busch for 9th on the All-Time Cup Series Win List at 63 wins.
Hamlin had come into the 2026 season stating clearly that he would be retiring after the 2027 season. The 45-year-old driver had 72 races to the finish line: 36 in each season. Post-race, Hamlin finally acknowledged some caution regarding that reality that had been set forth.
Hamlin explained in his post-race interview that Joe Gibbs Racing has plans for the post-Hamlin era. "I don't want to leave them in flux; they have a great drive in Brent Crews that's gonna be ready likely at the end of next year," Hamlin explained. It seems evident that Crews may be driving the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing once Hamlin likely hangs it up post-2027.
"I don't want to leave them in flux, they have a great drive in Brent Crews that's gonna be ready likely at the end of next year."
— Taylor Kitchen (@_TaylorKitchen_) June 8, 2026
Denny Hamlin is still confident he'll retire from full-time racing in 2027. Interesting nugget from his his post-race press conference on Prime, he… pic.twitter.com/km4jVCYQgF
Hamlin plans the retirement, but it is not yet set in stone. There is clearly a part of Hamlin that would weigh coming back if he is running as dominant as the goings are at this very moment.
Hamlin's win rate after 700 career starts is nearly 20%. In 2026 alone, Hamlin has 4 wins, including the All-Star Race. That is well over 20% on the season and 1 win behind Tyler Reddick for the season lead. The duo has over half of the wins in the Cup Series since we went green at the Daytona 500 four months ago.
As for Brent Crews, he is definitely Joe's star in waiting. The 18-year-old phenom drives the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Despite having missed a handful of races earlier this season, Crews is 14th in the driver standings and rising.
Crews has missed multiple races because he was not yet 18 years old. Any oval over 1.25 miles requires the driver to be 18 years old. Crews, now 18, can race any track on the circuit, but he had to wait until March 30 for his adult birthday to come.
He still awaits his first win in the series. However, Crews is racing toward very strong results, including 2nd-place finishes at Nashville and Talladega. Over Crews' last 8 starts, he had 6 top-6 finishes. Suppose we take out the race at Charlotte, which Crews wrecked out of, his average finish while unobstructed is 7.3. For reference, the best average finish in 2026 among any other full-time NOAPS driver is Justin Allgaier at 7.9.
Joe Gibbs Racing plans to be ready for its young star come 2028. At that point, Crews will be 20 years old with 2 years of experience in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Likely, Crews will enter the 2027 season among the favorites to win the title. As for now, we watch him grow in his No. 19 Toyota. Crews is poised for his first career victory at some point this season and, perhaps, as soon as this upcoming Saturday, June 13, at Pocono Raceway.
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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 10:40 AM.