RICHMOND, Va. (September 9, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media prior to the Richmond race weekend today:

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How does it feel to win the Southern 500 leading into your home race in Richmond?

“We certainly hope that we continue that momentum. We’ve got some great tracks really for these next few weeks that really suit our history and my history there. We just hope to continue that momentum and hope to build as many Playoff points as we can for the next round and the following round. We were able to get back the difference between first and second in the points in the regular season here in the first week. Just really excited for our team to be able to win the first Playoff race and to add the Darlington Southern 500 on top of that was a great bonus, but I really feel like our team has been strong all year. We just finally had things break our way this weekend.”

From testing the Next Gen car, are you comfortable with the safety of the car versus what you were a couple of months ago?

“I would say I’m a little more educated on it in general. There was a little bit more time where they could sit with you one on one and discuss things. I still have questions, but I think I’ll have to see all the information to really understand the questions that I want to have, but certainly, we are going to end up racing it. We’re all going to have to get comfortable.”

How do you solve the heat problem in the Next Gen car?

“I’m not sure. It’s a concern. It’s a big, big concern. It’s difficult because it’s the way that car was designed. The design of it where the exhaust of it is all boxed in running right under the seat there is just hot. It’s 450 degrees down in that box, so it’s super-hot, and then you got the exhaust – all of the hot radiator – flowing into the car from the hood, so I don’t really know. They are going to have to really make some big changes to it. Something that will allow us to finish races without having major issues. I think they made some gains with some stuff they did with Austin Dillon later in the day.”

What are your thoughts on the rearview camera?

“I didn’t run it. It was our personal choice not to run it. For me personally, I’ve been in vehicles that have a rearview camera while you’re driving, I didn’t like it. To me, it just crosses my eyes and makes me a little dizzy when I look at it. The reason we have those is because the visibility isn’t as good. These cars are a little higher off the ground, so we need to be able to see, so they’ve put in a camera back there. I think they can fix some things with the spoiler, bring the carbon fiber part of the spoiler down, increase the Lexan size. That will certainly help with the vision, but I think the camera is something I really won’t explore.”

What are your thoughts on NFTs? What would be your thoughts if NASCAR got involved with something like NFTs?

“I’m not hugely versed in it. I know a little bit about it. I know that there are some conversations going on with NASCAR and/or the teams about NFTs. I really don’t know a ton about them.”

How much was last weekend’s win a morale booster and how much momentum does this give you going forward?

“It’s great for my team. That’s what that tweet was about – just the team. These guys were so happy, as happy as I’ve seen them in victory lane in quite some time. You honestly fall victim at times when you have a lot of success, and you win a lot of races like we’ve done over the last three years. You get to victory lane, and it’s not as exciting because we just did this three weeks ago or two weeks ago, but when you have a little bit of a winning drought when you go back, it just makes you appreciate that moment a little bit more, so these guys were very, very excited. But every week, they are as optimistic as I am. I walk by the pit lane, and I talk to those guys, and they are like, today is our day. They never lose hope. They know we are up front every single week and they know the dice is bound to roll our number at any moment and this Sunday it did. We were able to celebrate that.”

How much are you going to have to share that car with your teammates?

“That’s the difficult part about it. I’m going to share. I think I’m only going to be able to get in it one more time, which is the Charlotte oval before the Daytona 500. There’s a lot I would like to be involved with it, but honestly, I just won’t have the opportunity because of the restriction. It’s based on you can only bring so many cars per organization and we have to split that up between myself and my teammates.”

Do you see Vegas as the most important race in the next round?

“That is the track where you can control your own destiny the most, so that is the one you have to put the most emphasis on because that is where if you do a good job as a driver and your car is fast, the team does their job, that is where you can get your best result. The other two tracks you are more likely to be caught up in someone else’s issues than your own. I just think you have to put a lot of emphasis on it, and I’m sure that will be by far the most nervous race that probably the entire 12-car field is going to have is hoping that they perform well at that race, because there is just no givens. It might even come from us, if you have a bad Las Vegas, well, we will just go get them in Talladega. Well, we all know deep in our thoughts that the likelihood of that is very, very slim.”

Do you have memories of 9-11?

“I do. I was at Townsend Racing Products putting an exhaust on my new late model that my parents emptied their savings accounts to help pay for. I will never forget, someone coming in the shop, I was underneath the car fitting it. They were like ‘Hey, a plane hit a building.’ We all went in there and that is where we set for the next eight hours or so is out there in the lounge where they had a TV and just remember being glued to it all day.”

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