“He said to me, we need to sign this guy”: Joe Gibbs reflects on late son J.D. Gibbs’ crucial role in discovering Denny Hamlin 

Denny Hamlin’s latest win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway not only marked his 60th Cup win but also secured him a Championship 4 spot. Speaking after the race, his team owner, Joe Gibbs, reflected on where it all began.

Hamlin will make his fifth career appearance in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway on November 2. He has been there before in 2014, 2019, 2020, and 2021, finishing third twice and fourth twice in the championship standings.

When asked what he plans to say to Hamlin ahead of this next shot at the elusive title, Gibbs said (in the post-race press conference):

“I just think for him, there won’t be a lot of talking about it because he knows everything’s at stake in this. This has been his life. This is all he’s wanted to do, is race cars... When J.D. found him racing late models, J.D. gets a lot of the credit because he put Denny in a test, he put him in a truck, he put him in Xfinity car. Finally, he said to me, 'I think we need to sign this guy.'” (26:00 onwards)

J.D. Gibbs’ belief in a young, unproven racer from Virginia would become one of the most pivotal in Joe Gibbs Racing’s history. Denny Hamlin had been making steady progress through the regional ranks by then. From his early years in Grand Stock racing in 1998 to dominating Late Model Stock divisions in the early 2000s, Hamlin’s rise was steady but far from guaranteed.

(L) J.D. Gibbs, JGR President, and his father and owner, Joe Gibbs, at the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour. Source: Getty

In 2004, while still racing Late Models full-time, Hamlin earned a driver development deal with Joe Gibbs Racing. He made his Truck Series debut that same year with a tenth-place finish, followed by a top-three run in ARCA at Talladega and a surprise top-10 in his Busch Series debut at Darlington. By 2005, he was running full-time in the Busch Series.

That’s when J.D. Gibbs - then team president - made the call that changed both their lives. Denny Hamlin was a full-time Cup driver in 2006, driving the FedEx No. 11, replacing Jason Leffler. When asked if he could have imagined Hamlin turning into a 60-time Cup winner, Coach Gibbs added:

“No, I did not. I got to be honest... Really, if you remember that year, we actually were struggling with the FedEx car. He only ran half a year in Xfinity, which is amazing. So we put him in there kind of as an experiment. I think the third race he sat on a pole, he was gone.” (28:00 onwards)

From there, the Virginia native’s career took shape with 3 Daytona 500 victories, 4 Playoff appearances, which have cemented him as one of NASCAR’s modern greats. Now, at 44, Denny Hamlin stands once again on the edge of a Cup Series title that has so far eluded him.

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“The greatest sporting event I was ever in”: Joe Gibbs recalls Denny Hamlin's 2019 Daytona 500 win

Denny Hamlin with Joe Gibbs after winning the 2019 Daytona 500. Source: Imagn

Joe Gibbs has been part of many iconic sporting moments - three Super Bowl titles in the NFL and five NASCAR Cup Series championships as an owner. But none compares to the 2019 Daytona 500 for him.

J.D. Gibbs passed away on January 11, 2019, after a long battle with a neurological disease. J.D.co-founded Joe Gibbs Racing alongside his father and had been the driving force behind bringing Denny Hamlin into the team.

“I think the race at Daytona after J.D. went to be with the Lord, it is for me the greatest sporting event I was ever in, for our family and everybody,” Gibbs recalled in the press conference (27:04 onwards). “I think God’s hand was on that race. So Denny’s a big part of that history with J.D. too.”

Just weeks after the passing, Denny Hamlin delivered one of the most emotional wins in NASCAR history. The race went into overtime after multiple incidents in the closing laps. Hamlin took the lead on the final restart, pulling ahead of teammate Kyle Busch and holding on for his second Daytona 500 victory. As he climbed out of the car, he dedicated a win to J.D. Gibbs.

Kyle Busch (18) honoring the lives of car owner Glenn Wood and son JD Gibbs. Source: Imagn

Denny Hamlin would go on to win the Daytona 500 again the following year, this time with J.D.’s initials still printed above his window net, an enduring reminder of the bond that shaped both his career and Joe Gibbs Racing’s legacy.

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Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar