Denny Hamlin Reveals 2026 Plan in Long-Awaited Podcast
After over a week of speculation, Denny Hamlin lays it all out for the fans.
Denny Hamlin’s podcast, Actions Detrimental, has offered fans a rare glimpse into the mind of a top-tier NASCAR driver and team owner. During the racing season, fans are eager to tune in each week and hear Hamlin’s perspective on his own career, his team, 23XI racing, and the sport as a whole.
After the crushing blow of the Phoenix championship race, it was more or less understood that the podcast would be delayed. On the Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. more or less told him to take as much time as he needed to process the difficult loss – a sentiment shared by fans of his show.
When the episode finally dropped last week, we learned a lot about Hamlin’s mindset before, during, and after the race. The title of the episode, “It Doesn’t Change What I Think About Me,” says a lot about how Hamlin feels about the way things shook out in Phoenix. Hamlin stated that he felt bad for his team and his fans, but at the end of the day, the championship is “just a trophy.”
That may seem like some sort of coping mechanism, but it’s an understandable one. Everyone knows he had the best car and the best execution that fateful day. Had William Byron not blown a right front tire, things would have been very different. Hamlin still has three Daytona 500 trophies. He’s still tied tenth for all-time wins in NASCAR’s top series. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, no questions asked.
Many have wondered if Hamlin planned to step away from the sport, especially after an Instagram post that showed him visiting an abandoned racetrack he started out on in Virginia. This, combined with the delay in the release of the final Actions Detrimental episode of the season, fueled rumors that swirled after the championship race.
In the episode, Hamlin revealed a bombshell fairly early on – had he won the championship, he would have asked Coach Joe Gibbs to let him retire early. Since that didn’t happen, though, we’ve got at least two more years of Hamlin in the #11 Toyota. As of right now, though, he can’t really bear to think about racing too much. He’s got his hands full with a lawsuit, a newborn son, and Ohio State Buckeyes football. We expect 2026 to be a revenge tour of sorts – and Hamlin has proven, from his numerous post-race soundbites and catchphrases, that he runs on spite better than anyone else in the NASCAR garage.
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