Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DAYTONA BEACH (February 15, 2023) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to media prior to the Daytona 500 on Wednesday:
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx 50 Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
How are you enjoying the podcast?
“It’s good. Learning as we go. It’s pretty effortless right now. You all know I like to talk.”
Any upcoming plans for it as of right now?
“Just week by week every Monday morning.”
Did you have any idea that you had this in you? The first couple of shows have been hits.
“I don’t know. When he (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) pitched me on it, a lot of it was my concerns that we were diluting the market a little bit. But to the Dale Jr. Download, they said I was the second highest rated and then on BBC, we were the first rated. So people are listening even if they may not like you. It’s good, it will be a good, honest way for me to inform people about our sport and if anything, I think it’s helps grow our sport with the content.”
How do you feel about where the car is going into this weekend?
“I felt pretty good about it. Certainly, the updates we’ve been given from NASCAR about it have been good. The thing is that what we think happened in my scenario is that there’s just not very much room in that rocker box for the muffler and when they put the muffler in there, there is just no clearance anywhere. As soon as you door bang with someone or get some damage on the sides, it just knocks it into the frame rail which then roasts the door pad. Just not enough tolerances around that area yet. But I feel okay about the car itself. Certainly, I know they’re testing bumpers, they haven’t gotten anything better yet than what we’ve got. So they’re still working on it as far as I know. It jars you pretty good for sure. The hit is super solid and especially at the rate that guys were laying into each other. It was as hard as anything we do without it crumbling for sure.”
Would you trade your Daytona 500 trophies for one Cup championship?
“No. I got asked that last year. No way. No chance.”
When did you get into pickleball?
“I’m actually looking to purchase a stake in one of the professional teams. It’s really exciting from my standpoint. It’s like tennis, only better for my shoulder. Anything that’s better on my joints is something I appreciate. All of my golfing buddies, we really can’t golf in the winter. It’s great for us to be able to do it indoors, which is a blast.”
Do you feel a relationship with Trackhouse and 23XI since you came in at the same time?
“Certainly, we’re trying to change status quo, but status quo isn’t terrible either. I mean, it’s been this way, the teams have done things for a while because they’ve found the best way to do it over time. We’re challenging different things with our designs, our employees, how diverse we are. There are a lot of things we’re doing differently within the sport, but a lot of that you don’t see by just looking at a race car. Last year we were the only team to have all black wheels. Something that just spiced it up a little bit. Something that made us look as professional as we possibly could, which is something I’m keen on my team is making sure we look as professional as we can at all times. I’m excited about where that team is going. Just some of the stuff they were working on in the off season, I’m excited.”
How do you balance your driver role versus your owner role at the track?
“Once I’m here this weekend – I’m all 11 FedEx car for Joe Gibbs Racing. That’s what I will focus on. Certainly, I will have a special interest in Travis (Pastrana) tonight. The work has already been done. There is nothing else that I can do other than have meetings with them post-practice, post-qualifying to work on race strategy, but I’m not going to wrench on the car this weekend. The work has been done and I’ve hired a lot of people that I trust to make sure that team is running well.”
You have any good offseason stories? Austin Cindric told us he sat on a jury of a murder trial.
“Listen, I never want to see murder happen, but that would be very captivating to me. I love true crime. I’m a true crime junkie. That would have been really interesting.”
How has it been adjusting not having Kyle Busch in team meetings?
“Well, we have only had one meeting this year. Really just people took over the spaces where he was at. We all kind of had – it’s very unassigned seating in our meeting rooms – it’s just new people sitting in. All of the people that have been there are sitting in their seats, and you’ve just got a new face in there. Not really – it hasn’t really changed anything for us so far.”
Is there something that he brought that can’t be replaced or will be missed?
“He certainly had some valuable information that you listen to. He’s well accomplished and can win anywhere, so I certainly listened to him whenever he’s speaking. You have to have a thick filter in figuring out what’s true and what’s not, but I think he’s an asset anywhere he goes because he is very good. It is going to be different when you have a younger guy in there, Ty (Gibbs), who is learning as he goes, so I think he will be less vocal for his first year or so.”
Why is it so hard to win this race?
“There are so many factors in it. Just because a lot of times you don’t decide your own fate. People talk about getting in a wreck here is a 50/50 chance – I think it is probably a little higher than that and most times you don’t create the wreck, you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It takes three facets to win at this – you’ve got that luck factor, that’s a part of it. 20 percent, whatever it might be, 30 percent. Execution, and skill set. You’ve got to have all three to win this race and it is hard to get all three of those lined up on any given day, which is why probably the best driver ever here – Dale Earnhardt – won a billion races but didn’t win this one because on that he didn’t have all of those things line up for him. On any given weekend, the fast cars make it to the front no matter what, there is less attrition, less luck when it comes to being involved in wrecks, so I just think that is part of it.”
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