This is certainly a season of change for Denny Hamlin.
First, longtime crew chief Chris Gabehart has beennpromoted to Joe Gibbs Racing director of competition. As a result, Hamlin has now been paired with Chris Gayle.
His longest tenured sponsor, FedEx, departed altogether at the end of last season and there are still races that have not yet sold as of early February.
That’s to say nothing of the potential distraction caused by his involvement in suing NASCAR as 23XI Racing alongside Front Row Motorsport on antitrust grounds.
As for the sponsorship, his No. 11 hauler looked awful bare and devoid of logos this weekend as it rolled into Bowman Gray Stadium for the preseason Cook Out Clash.
Does the current availability make the 44-year-old nervous for the future stability of his No. 11 team?
“I mean it is tough out there,” Hamlin said on Saturday prior to the first race weekend of the year. “Sponsorship is hard to come by, and certainly, while it is such an important time in our sport to recognize that sponsorship dollars are not flowing like they used to for sure.
“Everyone has had to adjust quite a bit, and there are certain aspects that (Joe Gibbs Racing) has to price into their pricing as well that is probably tough. I don’t know. It is part of it. Certainly, having one sponsor for 20 years, made things pretty easy and now it is all catching up. Is it concerning from my end? Maybe a little bit, but it is probably more concerning from JGR’s standpoint.”
Hamlin has a year left on his contact plus an option year but there are some parallels to how Kyle Busch ended his tenure with Gibbs — struggling to find funding to support both the car and the two-time champion’s salary.
