Checkered Weekend: Hamlin Eyes 2027 Exit, Mercedes Promotes Lord, Lawrence Dominates in Birmingham & Da Costa Wins Madrid Thriller

Hamlin Points to 2027 as Final NASCAR Season

Denny Hamlin addressed his future at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, reaffirming that 2027 remains his intended final season in the NASCAR Cup Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he has driven for since 2005. Hamlin stopped short of making it definitive but indicated the timeline is set in his mind and has allowed JGR to begin planning accordingly.

Hamlin currently sits at 61 career wins after winning at Las Vegas last weekend. He projects reaching approximately 67 wins by the end of his career, based on a career average of roughly three and a half wins per season over the last decade.

Two notable items remain absent from his resume. The Cup Series championship is the most significant, having come within three laps of winning it last season before a late caution in the finale ended his chances. A win at the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis is the other, the only crown jewel race he has yet to win.

Hamlin also made clear he has no interest in a farewell tour when the time comes.

"I don't want to go my last half of the year or year like, 'Can't wait to get out,'" he said. "If I could end on seasons like this one is starting, then that would be a successful last year for me."

One rumor suspected Alex Bowman as a possible replacement for Hamline but JGR may look in a different direction after the Arizonan's recent struggles with injury.

Will Denny Win A Championship Before Retirement

• Yes
• No

Mercedes Appoints Bradley Lord as Deputy Team Principal

Mercedes confirmed this week that Bradley Lord has been appointed deputy team principal, formalizing responsibilities that had developed organically over the course of his 13 years with the team. Lord joined Mercedes in 2013 as communications manager and most recently served as team representative and chief communications officer.

Team principal and CEO Toto Wolff stated that his own role and responsibilities remain unchanged. Lord's appointment is designed to support Wolff and strengthen the team's senior leadership structure as the sport continues to grow.

Lord began his career in Formula 1 as a press office intern at Benetton in 2001 and held communications roles at the Renault F1 Team and Daimler AG before joining Mercedes. He takes up the deputy team principal role with immediate effect.

Lawrence Extends Championship Lead With Dominant Birmingham Win

Hunter Lawrence put together arguably the strongest performance of his career at Round 10 of the Monster Energy SMX World Championship from Protective Stadium in Birmingham, taking his third win in the last four races and extending his 450SMX Class points lead.

Jorge Prado grabbed the holeshot at the start of the 20 Minute + 1 Lap Main Event, but Lawrence went on the attack immediately and took control of the race in the opening laps. Behind him, Prado and Red Bull KTM teammate Eli Tomac became engaged in their own battle, which allowed Ken Roczen to work his way up from a 16th place start. Roczen eventually got around Tomac and settled into second, where he spent the remainder of the race chasing Lawrence. Heavy lapped traffic repeatedly cut off any momentum he was able to build.

Lawrence crossed the line 2.3 seconds ahead of Roczen. Tomac finished third, more than 30 seconds back, in a difficult evening that included navigating his first Last Chance Qualifier since the 2019 season after an incident with Justin Cooper during their Heat Race.

Lawrence's championship lead over Tomac now stands at nine points. Roczen's sixth podium of the season moves him into third, 31 points behind Lawrence.

"I'm just taking it one race at a time," Lawrence said. "It's easy to think about the end result, which is the title, but I'm just trying to stay focused in the moment. Anything can happen, as we've seen tonight, so I'm just happy to be up here."

Da Costa Takes Inaugural Madrid E-Prix in Chaotic Finish

Antonio Felix da Costa won the inaugural Madrid E-Prix at Jarama Circuit for Jaguar Racing, with teammate Mitch Evans finishing second to complete a Jaguar one-two. Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the podium for Porsche after edging Dan Ticktum at the exit of the final corner, with the top four covered by less than a second.

Nyck Cassidy led early in his Citroen ahead of Mahindra's Nyck de Vries and da Costa. De Vries made an overly optimistic move on Wehrlein mid-race, made contact, broke his own front wing, dropped to the back of the field, and received a five-second penalty. Ticktum made the strongest start of the field, moving from ninth to fifth in the opening laps and spending much of the race in podium contention.

The race was defined by the Attack Mode activations and Pit Boost stops that cycle through the Formula E field. Felipe Drugovich activated Attack Mode from the back and led on lap 8. Pepe Marti did the same shortly after, leading in front of his home crowd before the pit stops began reshuffling the order. By the time all strategies played out, da Costa and Maximilian Gunther were fighting for the lead, with da Costa eventually seizing it and immediately activating his final Attack Mode to defend his position.

With the field bunched in the final laps and nearly every driver activating remaining Attack Modes simultaneously, da Costa held firm to take the victory.

Edoardo Mortara, Sebastien Buemi, Jake Dennis, Nico Muller, Pepe Marti, and Joel Eriksson completed the top 10.

Top 10:

Pos	Driver	Team	Gap
1	A. Felix da Costa	Jaguar Racing	Winner
2	M. Evans	Jaguar Racing	+0.386s
3	P. Wehrlein	Porsche Team	+0.799s
4	D. Ticktum	Cupra Kiro	+0.985s
5	E. Mortara	Mahindra Racing	+1.570s
6	S. Buemi	Envision Racing	+1.922s
7	J. Dennis	Andretti Formula E	+3.760s
8	N. Muller	Porsche Team	+3.884s
9	P. Marti	Cupra Kiro	+4.117s
10	J. Eriksson	Envision Racing	+6.576s