Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
LONG POND, Pennsylvania (June 26, 2020) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media via videoconference in advance of the race at Pocono Raceway:
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Based on your past success at Pocono, can you pick up on things for the second race?
“I think maybe logic works in reverse there because I don’t have more to learn there and maybe some of the newer drivers will make the bigger strides from one race to the next. Overall, I like our chances going there and turning around to put another setup in. If the first one doesn’t work, we’ll bounce back from a bad day if we were to have one. I think we’re going to be pretty solid both days.”
How would you describe Pocono?
“It’s different. It’s a race that can get strung out just a little bit. You do see pretty crazy restarts there in the past. It’s just a race track that is difficult because you have to get your car working right all through the corners, and the corners are all so different that it is challenging. If your crew chief does his job, he’s going to get you pretty close. The driver just has to do his job.”
How much does having a good day, or bad day, affect your outlook on the second race?
“I think if you have a good day, you’re going to just tweak your setup a little bit for the second day. You will have a bad starting position, but I think the race is plenty long enough as to where if your car is good, you’ll make up some positions. Getting back to the front will be difficult. I think without a doubt it will be difficult for somebody to win both races simply because that track is a little bit harder to pass at unless you have a superb, a dominant car over the field. Even if you have that, it’s going to be difficult to really pass guys simply because the big aero that you have there when you’re behind someone. If you get out of there with a couple top-fives, it’s a good weekend. If one of them can be a win, that’s a very, very good weekend. You definitely have to set your goals even though you want to win both. You can still get back up front with strategy in certain places, but I think that’s the goal. If it’s a bad day, you can essentially overhaul your car and put a new setup in and come up with new ideas and you’ll be starting up front. I think you can really bounce back. You could have flip-flop days between the two races.”
How did the drivers come together to support Darrell Wallace Jr.?
“I don’t think it matters really who it is. You show solidarity and I think as drivers, even if you have differences with someone, you show that solidarity to show the family that we are. Driving for change or wanting change in our culture is something that we are all unified on. I don’t think it matters what our differences or friendships are with a certain driver. That is something that we are all going to get behind.”
How have you adjusted to this new type of racing given the requirements?
“In the car it really doesn’t (matter), when you’re in the race and nothing has really changed. You’re in a cocoon environment where you can’t really see a whole lot, you can’t hear a whole lot because you’re listening to your radio. It’s the before and after that has been the most transition for us. It’s not being able to celebrate after race wins – that has been the biggest difference being as we’ve won a couple races now since this has all happened. It is different. We’re starting to get some crowds back. The next three weeks we’re not going to have any because of state regulations, but certainly it hasn’t had any effect on the on-track product. I think we’re a different sport when it comes to that. It’s not a sport that feeds off of the crowd, or the crowd emotions. It’s not a play to play like baseball, or football, or something like that. It doesn’t feed off that energy once the race gets going. The energy is before and afterwards.”
How have you been able to maintain your focus with everything going on?
“I can only control what I can control. Whether that comes with age or experience, or whatever it might be, you can only control what you have in front of you and the effort that you put in to each and every weekend is something you can control, and your attitude. I think I’ve maintained a positive attitude through this whole thing. I’ve put in the work to be good. When we get to the race track we’re seeing the results because of that.”
How have you viewed everything that has gone on over this week?
“It’s been not difficult, but just interesting to see how it’s all played out and I think that everyone has just got a little bit of a heightened awareness of every little thing. Not to minimize it and say it’s a little thing by any means, but I think the way things were worded in kind of the opening statement, and NASCAR already addressed this, that they would’ve worded things a little bit different because it sounded a little bit different than what it actually was or turned out to be. I think that had we all known that hey this was attached to the garage door, the industry probably could’ve helped out and said, ‘Hey, we tie knots on the end of those garage doors to pull them down all of the time. Now, that doesn’t mean that it should be tied in that fashion by any means, and like they said, that was the only one that was tied that way. But I think the industry probably could’ve helped out had we had a little bit more information right from the get-go. But, like I say, it’s hard for me if I were to switch positions and been in Bubba’s (Wallace) position or the 43 team’s position, especially with the heightened (awareness) of the flag and everything that weekend, you’ve got to hope that your sanctioning body is going to take it seriously. And I think that they did. Short of just their opening statement, I don’t know if I really blame them for anything they did. I think that they did exactly what they were supposed to do. The investigation was done, and when it was done, they provided the facts, and so I do appreciate the transparency that they had throughout the week as things became more available.”
How do you feel about the All-Star race moving to Bristol where you’ve been successful in the past?
“I feel good about it. I like Bristol. It’s a track we probably should’ve won about a month ago if I didn’t make a big mistake there at the end. I think that a mix up is good. I think any change is a good thing. It gets people excited. You saw the first time we went to the Roval, there was a bunch of excitement there, but if you keep going there enough, it eventually becomes stagnant and people lose interest. So, moving things around whether it be the All-Star race or the schedule itself, any change in my mind is welcome.”
What have you learned after going to the National Civil Rights Museum?
“Well, I think that before last week, and then going to the museum, probably I was a little bit narrow-minded when it came to what my perspective was of things going on in our society and in our country. I think I became more open-minded after I went and kind of heard the history, because I didn’t really learn that stuff growing up. Some of it, but maybe it just didn’t resonate with me as much as it does now at the age that I’m at. I think for me I saw it as an opportunity to go there, and especially during this time. Like I said, I promised that I would listen and this was a way for me to just sit there and listen to these ladies talk about the museum, the timeline in which everything went on from 1800 to the present, and it made me think about things a little bit differently, and be a little bit more sensitive to other people’s thoughts and other people’s ideals. That’s what it has done for me so far and it will continue to have a lasting effect on me for time to come.”
Were there any exhibits at the museum that were the most impactful to you?
“When we were kind of going through pictures of ones I wanted to post on my Instagram post, I’m looking through 100s of photos and I tried to pick out 10 that meant the most or were the most impactful 10 that I knew those specific moments that resonated with me. I thought the ones kind of with the sit ins were big. The march through Selma was huge. The bus boycott, that whole time was big and seeing all of the women who — when you kind of look at Rosa Parks was kind of the face of that boycott, but actually there were a bunch of women who boycotted well before that and had the same outcome of getting kicked off and whatnot. But they felt like Rosa Parks was the best one for kind of the movement they were looking for, the face they were looking for. But, just seeing the women that all got arrested in this same timeframe for the same thing. Just kind of seeing all of that and the freedom buses that came through and people testing the system to see if it was working back then. Those were all significant things that I didn’t understand quite as much as I do now and you kind of see that through the Instagram posts.”
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