TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Denny Hamlin — Notes & Quotes
Championship Media Day – Nov. 12, 2014
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What does it mean to be part of the final four competing for the championship?
“This is a very exciting week for us. We had to face elimination three times throughout this Chase. We didn’t have a Chase win, so every elimination race — there was a goal we had to accomplish to keep moving on — and we were able to accomplish that. I believe that our race team just keeps getting better every single week. I know what I can do at this race track, we saw that last year and after the test we had, I’m very encouraged that we can go out here and have the speed that’s capable of winning this race.”
What are you doing differently this weekend compared to 2010?
“Just playing this game way more relaxed. I didn’t do anything that night, didn’t want anyone coming in — just wanted to focus on what I needed to do, but that wasn’t what got me to that point. It was being myself and having my friends and family around — playing cards before driver intros, whatever it took to loosen me up. That’s what I did for 35 races and I changed that for one race and it won’t be the case this time around. Just racing much looser and having fun with this moment. You never know, especially with this type of format. Live it up and have some fun.”
How do you not get overwhelmed by being one of the finalists?
“It is exciting, but it’s not going to overwhelm me and it’s not going to define me in my career. I feel like I’ve grown so much as a person over the last couple years that I see a bigger perspective in life than having to sell my soul to go win a Cup championship. We have a great opportunity in front of us and I’m going to give 1000 percent out on that race track and drive as hard as I’ve ever driven, but we’re just going to see where the chips fall. There’s only certain things I can control and I’m going to try to control them on Sunday.”
Do you have to win the race Sunday to win the championship?
“No, I do not feel like you have to win. It’s tough to say because usually the championship contenders, when it comes to this race, usually are up front. We saw (Matt) Kenseth last year put himself and establish himself as one of the fastest cars all weekend. He finished second to us. I think it’s a 50-50 shot whether you’re going to win the race and the championship or not. It just depends on the circumstances. A lot of it is that there are a lot of really great race teams that have been eliminated that have been one of the top-tier, fastest cars every single weekend that have a great opportunity to win. I can assure you that nobody will have as much drive as we will with our 11 team.”
What would it mean to win your first NSCS championship with Joe Gibbs Racing?
“It would mean a lot. I’m still with the race team that gave me my start and not only that, the sponsor too. We have a long relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and FedEx and even the team members that work on my race car that have been with me from the very, very start — it would be so gratifying to win the championship for them. They’ve worked their guts out and even though this year hasn’t produced results that we expect and the expectations that we expect to hit when we hit the race track, we find ourselves in a winner-take-all type format for one race and we know anything can happen.”
How big of an asset is Darian Grubb considering he has earned a NSCS championship previously?
“It’s a huge asset. I think he’s (Darian Grubb, crew chief) won two of the last three races here. I won one before him in 2009, but each one of these crew chiefs brings something different to their race team that’s good for them. Luke (Lambert, Ryan Newman’s crew chief) is obviously a new crew chief and Todd (Gordon, Joey Logano’s crew chief) is as well. Any one of these guys is capable of producing a race-winning car, but it’s going to be about execution. There are going to be a lot of restarts and a lot of pit road stuff that goes on in this 400 mile race, and every part of it has to be executed perfectly.”
How upset were you not to win the championship in 2010?
“I think a lot of it has to do with how our 2010 (season) went. You can compare stats and things like that, and I don’t think Kevin (Harvick) had as many wins as we had in 2010, but we were just as dominant. When we came down to it and it was myself and Kevin and Jimmie (Johnson), everyone said the 11 has all the speed so he’s going to win the championship. Speed doesn’t mean jack if you can’t execute. That’s the biggest thing I think we’ve done really, really well within our team to keep moving on is executing. Even though we overcame some adversity last week, we got here because we didn’t make the mistakes that all the other fast guys did. That gives us an opportunity to go out there and put it all on the line. There is going to be some human error when it comes to this championship and I think human error could decide who’s going to be our champion. In 2010, I just was so different because of the expectations of that season were so high and everyone thought we were a shoe-in and I thought we were a shoe-in, I let the moment overtake me. This time around, I just feel like we survived and we kept surviving and now we have a shot at it. To me, there is no place to go but up. We missed a race earlier this year in California, we’d be 17th in points or something and we’ve had a lot of bad things happen, but now we’re on even ground to win a championship. I’m ecstatic to be here and I’m going to treat this weekend like it’s my birthday weekend and go have fun. This is what I dreamed about, but win lose or draw, it’s not going to define me one way or the other.”
“We have a birthday dinner planned Saturday night with a bunch of friends and family. We’re going to go out on my buddy’s boat and just enjoy the night and have fun and relax. I feel at most ease when I’m around my friends and family. They don’t like talking about racing, they like talking about who’s going to win this football game or who’s going to win this basketball game. We talk about other stuff — who just got beat on the golf course last week. That to me puts my mind at ease and doesn’t make me think about racing. I’m better off when I take a little break from racing now and then.”How did the Homestead test go a few weeks ago?
“Our Homestead test was as good as it could possibly be. What’s crazy about that is I told them that I ran the first run in the car and Dave Rogers (18 crew chief) says, ‘Well, I read your run log last year and you said in Happy Hour that we’re going to win the race and I thought you were crazy because we hadn’t shown that kind of speed all year, we went out there and won the race.’ I said after the first run of the test that it feels like a race winner, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Will teammates play a role in the outcome of this championship?
“I think teammates will probably play a role at some point or in some way. I think it’s kind of limited on the kind of things they can do, short of taking someone out. There will be games played throughout restarts or what have you — there will be games played I’m sure. We all have teammates in this whole deal, but you want to see this thing won the right way and let it play out the way it should.”
What do you remember about meeting Joe Gibbs for the first time?
“I remember every bit of that meeting. I remember sitting in line for like two-and-a-half hours thinking this guy (Joe Gibbs, team owner) is the slowest autograph, of course it’s because he wants to tell every story — I don’t know how long his press conference was, but every time he goes to our hospitalities I have to wait because he’s out there telling stories about all these parties I had when I lived beside him. He’s a great guy and what I love is that I’m driving for a family organization. I want to win it so bad for them because they are all in this sport. If their race team goes under they got nothing — they have nothing. To race for an owner that lives and breathes racing like Joe does and he’s at the race shop every morning when that shop door opens and that means a lot to me. There would be no other person more gratifying to win this for than him, especially a guy that I looked up to as a kid. I was a huge Redskins fan and it was 1992 and they just won the Super Bowl and I lived in Virginia so I was a huge Joe Gibbs fan so I thought it was awesome that my favorite football coach is starting a race team, this is perfect and this is ideal for me. I told him, ‘Mr. Gibbs, I just started racing go-karts and I’d really like to drive for you one day and I’d love to win a championship for you.’ He’s like, ‘Okay son.’ I took my picture with him and Dale Jarrett and I will never forget getting that and I remember I cried for two weeks — I would never sit on my seat on the bus and my parents always got a warning from the bus driver that I would not sit in my seat and I stuck my head out the window and my hat blew off and I lost my Joe Gibbs Racing autographed 1992 hat. Bus driver was kind enough to turn the bus around and we went chasing after this hat on the street. The person in front of us picked this hat up and we followed that person for like 20 minutes trying to get them to stop to give up the hat and I’m sure once they saw the signature and everything they were not giving it up and they set sail and I lost the hat forever.”
