Another longtime sponsor could leave NASCAR.
Denny Hamlin posted a thank you message to FedEx on social media ahead of Sunday’s Cup season finale in Phoenix. According to the Sports Business Journal, The shipping company is “not expected” to return to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025.
FedEx has been a sponsor of JGR since 2005 and its relationship with Hamlin has been the longest-running driver-sponsor combination currently in the Cup Series. The move, however, is not a huge surprise. Rumors had circulated for months about FedEx’s future involvement in NASCAR and the company had reduced its sponsorship inventory in recent seasons.
The company sponsored Hamlin’s car in all 36 Cup races in 2020 and its involvement has declined since then. Counting Sunday’s race at Phoenix, FedEx has been Hamlin’s primary sponsor in 14 points races in 2024.
Since he began driving full-time at NASCAR’s top level in 2006, Hamlin has earned 54 wins. All but seven of those wins came in a FedEx-sponsored car.
Unless FedEx decides to stay in NASCAR and sign a deal with another team, its departure would simply be the latest in a long line of major brands that have left NASCAR over the past decade. Companies like Lowe’s, Target, Nationwide and MillerCoors have stopped sponsoring cars after being some of the most recognizable sponsors in modern NASCAR. Its departures followed those of other big brands such as Home Depot and UPS.