NASCAR Has announce Departing Kyle Larson from NASCAR……..
Spending 19 years is a long time in NASCAR.
Denny Hamlin spent all of them with Joe Gibbs Racing as one of the sport’s very best.
Over the course of his Cup Series career, he has picked up 54 victories, marking him 13th in the all-time wins list. Only one thing has eluded Hamlin’s grasp – a Cup Series championship.
But obstacles stand in his way even as he pursues that elusive title.
groundbreaking changes for the No. 11 Toyota team. Joe Gibbs cut Hamlin’s blooming relationship with crew chief Chris Gabehart – which left Hamlin shocked.
Then long-time sponsor FedEx also left the scene, ending a 2-decade-long partnership.
Now another crippling setback is on the block – leaving fans wondering about Hamlin’s exit.
FedEx’s departure was a long time coming.
The shipping company had backed up Denny Hamlin since 2005, making it the longest partnership in NASCAR.
The driver-sponsor duo has won crown jewel events like the Coca-Cola 600 and the Daytona 500.
However, since 2021, FedEx started cutting back its sponsored race schedule. It went from 32-36 races a year down to 30. In 2024, the company had Hamlin’s back for just 13 races.
This allowed other sponsors to support Hamlin like Mavis Tires did in seven races. Sportsclips, Interstate Batteries, and Yahoo! were also there. However, it seems now even Mavis is getting cold feet.
According to a report by a NASCAR enthusiast on Reddit, there is insider news about this topic.
The Reddit post reads, “Just saw some news that Mavis will not be back with Denny this season? Kind of out of nowhere or did I miss an announcement?” No official announcement has been made yet, and Denny Hamlin is officially still working with Mavis Tires.
However, the Joe Gibbs Racing website has a glaring hint.
The ‘Partners’ page of the site lists all the familiar names – Monster Energy, Bass Pro Shops, Interstate, Yahoo!, Mobil 1, and others. However, Mavis Tires’ logo is missing.
This marks the third setback that Denny Hamlin faced.
The second one was losing his partnership with crew chief Chris Gabehart.
In their six-year-long journey, the driver-crew chief duo have collected 23 race wins, including two Daytona 500 trophies.
So when JGR announced Hamlin would get a new crew chief for 2025, the driver was shocked.
“The first few days were a shock, but I’m moving on,” Hamlin said.
“There’s nothing I can do to change anything that happened, and JGR is doing what they feel is best for them and I totally understand that.
In their filing this week, 23XI and Front Row claim: “NASCAR is using the counterclaim to engage in litigation gamesmanship, with the transparent objective of intimidating the other racing teams by threatening them with severe consequences if they support Plaintiffs’ challenge to the unlawful NASCAR monopoly.”
They also request that the NASCAR countersuit be dismissed because it “fails at the threshold because it does not allege facts plausibly showing a contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade.
“The counterclaim allegations instead show each racing team individually determining whether or not to agree to NASCAR’s demands through individual negotiations — the opposite of a conspiracy.”
The teams continue: “None of NASCAR’s factual claims fit into the very narrow categories of blatantly anti-competitive agreements that courts summarily condemn as per se unlawful.”
“I decided to actually learn how to play golf about 2 years ago. Of course it’s a little seasonal, mostly for heat in AZ but also work and skiing! I thought I finally had it figured out last fall.
Then I forgot how to hit my driver to start the year off…. Until about 10 days ago.
Kyle Larson’s recent win at Homestead-Miami Speedway gives him 14 victories in the current NASCAR Cup composite body car, but he believes he would have more if he still drove the sheet metal version used in the series in 2021.
“I think switching to this car has limited us from winning,” Larson says. “They’re difficult cars to drive. You have to run really hard. That probably benefits a guy like myself.”
Larson cites the ability to adapt to new things as the reason for his and teammate William Byron’s success in the current Cup car.
Byron has won 12 races since the Next Gen or Gen 7 car was introduced in 2022.
“I think that’s an area (adaptability) where the five team really excels, and the 24 (William Byron) as well,” Larson says. “Young, adaptable drivers and teams.”
That adaptability includes aggressive driving on restarts in NASCAR’s Cup and Xfinity series. The composite car bodies now used in both series are more durable than their sheet metal predecessors and can endure more beating and banging without cutting a tire.
“When you look at the Cup Series and the bumpers and how stiff and rigid they are and how well they line up, there’s beating and banging going on, on these restarts to another level,” says Justin Allgaier, NASCAR’s current Xfinity Series champion. “It’s actually pretty impressive that they’re able to not wreck on some of these restarts on the Cup Series side. You know 90% of the passing that you’re going to do is going to come from those first five, 10 laps. I think restarts have become more aggressive and more haywire than they’ve ever been but it’s risk versus reward; way higher reward than risk.”
Allgaier admits he’s had to adapt his driving style during the last five to 10 years due to the way racing has changed.
“I would say as I’ve gotten older, I’ve probably gotten a little more feisty and probably become a little more aggressive,” Allgaier says.
Ryan Preece admits it’s easy to get “tunneled into being aggressive.”
“The style of racing that we’re in now, with the bodies being so durable, guys are more likely to put them, or you or whoever is in front of you in a bad position,” Preece says.
“You need to be ready for somebody to wreck at any time on a restart.
This style of racing is you get everything you can on a restart and if you don’t, somebody else will, and then you’re just going to be fighting yourself out of a hole.
“These restarts have turned into a brutal blood bath of just putting guys in bad situations.
There’s times when you need to take advantage of it, and then there’s times you need to say, ‘Well, this isn’t going to work out’ and you need to be ready for that.
I’m not saying you need to hold yourself back.
I think in certain situations, if you see something transpiring that’s going to be bad, you need to be ready for it.
It will be a somewhat historical moment as Legge, driving for Live Fast Motorsports, is the first female to drive NASCAR’s current Next Gen car and only the eighth woman to compete in Cup’s modern era.
“Everybody says, ‘What’s it like to be a girl in racing?’” Legge said. “And I don’t know, because I only have my own experience. I don’t know what it’s like to be a boy in racing.
“So I know what my journey has been, and I know that it’s gone for me and it’s gone against me, and I know where the struggles are. And I know mentally what you have to do to overcome those struggles.”
The 44-year-old Legge has an extensive racing resume that includes 47 starts in top open-wheel cars and nearly 100 starts (including four wins) in top road-racing series.
She has competed in everything from electric cars in Formula E to midget cars at the Chili Bowl.
