Denny Hamlin said goodbye to a teammate and a colleague NASCAR Cup Series veteran last weekend, as Martin Truex Jr. retired from full-time racing after the end of the Phoenix race.

Truex is someone Hamlin has raced against for over twenty years, and the two drivers share a unique history both on and off the track. During the final episode of his Actions harmful podcast, Hamlin waxed poetic about his now former teammate and wished him the best in his future endeavors.

“What can I say about Truex? Just a consistent professional as a teammate,” Hamlin said. “Definitely someone I also admire outside the circuit. His – how independent he is. He is independent off the track and just a great professional on the track.

“We will certainly miss Martin and all he brings to Joe Gibbs Racing and wish him the best.”

Unfortunately, it’s clear that Hamlin has a lot of love for Truex, and he would like to keep their relationship strong even as the latter retires. An unintended consequence of the case, however, is that Hamlin has been forced to think about his own mortality, and he pondered whether retirement crossed his mind later in the episode.

“Only on Mondays, when I feel bad. I’m having a bad race, my body’s sore, and it’s like, man,’” Hamlin said, on whether he’s considering retirement. “But every Sunday I get in that car and I think, ‘I have a chance to win.’ And that’s just something that’s going to be hard for me to give up. There’s definitely going to be a light switch that comes on one day and I’m not as fast as I was and stuff like that, but I still feel like I can win it, and I feel like every week I can winning and that’s what drives me. Those who know me, play golf with me or play basketball with me, know that I love the competition and this is how I get my fill. And you all asked me on the plane, would ownership fill that, if I stopped racing, would ownership fill my competitive bucket?

“And I say: partially. For example, it’s still different if you go out and do it yourself. Now I would be very proud to be the owner of 23XI, knowing that I had my hands in all the parts of building this team from the ground up. From competition, challenging the crew chiefs and engineers on their way of thinking, the drivers on their techniques. I, for one, am very proud of that. But it’s still different than doing it yourself. I think I would struggle with that part of it, and I’ve always heard people say, “As those who choose to retire, they know.” I am not aware.”

Time will tell what the future holds for Denny Hamlin behind the wheel, but it’s clear he won’t be retiring from Martin Truex Jr. anytime soon. He remains one of NASCAR’s best and the future looks bright for the Joe Gibbs Racing superstar, despite his age.