Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
KANSAS CITY (September 28, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you still taking an analytical approach to this second round of the Playoffs?
“You could still take the approach, but truthfully, we’re going to just try to win this weekend and then not have to worry about numbers. But certainly, we’re going to approach these three races and get all we can and live with the result no matter what it is. We can’t control the things we can’t control, but if we just do the best that we can we feel pretty confident.”
Is this a different approach?
“Yeah, I mean, did that prove to be true or not? It did. Certainly, it was closer than we wanted it to be and certainly if I had to do it all over again, there’s some factors that changed the way I was going to approach Atlanta after things went down – after 40 or 50 laps that changed that. But, yeah, certainly we just don’t have the buffer entering these rounds that we did before. You use the numbers to try to help you make the best decisions possible, but I think the best avenue for us going forward is to just go all out.”
NASCAR is proposing changes for Talladega to help with lift off speeds. Is there anything you heard that you like or dislike as an owner and/or driver?
“From an owner standpoint, no. From a driver’s standpoint, yes. I heard drivers say that they didn’t like what was being proposed simply for visibility reasons amongst other things. Certainly, from aesthetic reasons, I certainly don’t love it but they’re going to try to make the best, educated guess that they can on what would fix it. But I’ve said a million, times, I certainly don’t think that rollovers are necessarily a bad thing.”
What about Kansas fits your driving style?
“I mean, I think the things that have made us really strong here is the ability to run the same lap time in multiple lanes. Certainly, everyone can run fast when they go up by the wall, but can you run fast when you actually have to pass someone and have to go down low. I think our ability and the versatility of our car over the last few years is really what’s made us excel and just the momentum-based type of racing that we have on these mile and a halves. It seems like I’ve adapted to that type of style.”
Does Kansas have the capability of hosting a NASCAR championship race?
“Yeah, it certainly from a driver’s standpoint, from a competition standpoint, it seems like it puts on some of the best racing that we have. Even though mile and a halves generally have gotten really good over the Next Gen era, this track in particular stands out amongst them. So, certainly, bias, yeah sure – from my standpoint, absolutely (laughter) – as the one race winner take all. But, certainly, there’s a lot of factors that go into that.”
Do you think you need to get business done the next two weeks prior to the Roval and have you studied the new track layout there?
“Certainly, the Roval will be a challenge, but it’s going to be a challenge for everyone to learn the new track. Yeah, we want to get as much business as we can done over the next two weeks. No doubt about it. You always want to have a bigger buffer going into that final race just simply because of the flip flopping that can go on during stages there. Passing at the Roval has been extremely, extremely hard. We’ve seen guys that stay out for stage points, do not make it back up to the front no matter how good either car is. So, I just think, generally speaking you want to have some sort of buffer going into that track so you can play strategy multiple ways.”
How does your mindset change from the first round to the second round of the Playoffs?
“Just from my standpoint, I never contemplate going out in the first round. It’s just not the standard I set for myself. I don’t contemplate going out in the second round either, equally. But there are things that are different certainly this year, right? We’re 14 points less than what we should have had given our regular season points position and the penalty. It puts it in play. It puts the unknowns a little bit more in play this time around. So, certainly there was a little sigh of relief from my standpoint leaving the first round around and certainly now going into one of my best race tracks I think that now let’s capitalize and go from treading water seven days ago to punching our ticket into the Round of 8, eight days later.”
How could your points situation impact how you do things moving forward?
“Yeah, I mean, you can’t let it impact you too much. I think if we try to change strategy or I change the way that I do things, it’s more of a recipe for disaster than it is success. I think that we’ve had enough success in these playoffs and how we’ve run over the last few years, that what we do is good enough. We don’t need to change based off of a given situation. Now, you can’t be dumb about it right? If your competition stubs their toe and goes out early, you’ve got to manage the race accordingly from there. But generally speaking, I just feel as though we’re good enough and I’m good enough, we just have to have it all put together. And certainly, feel like this year on performance that’s as good as we’ve been. There’s certainly probably been some other years statistically that’s been a little bit stronger, but as far as speed is concerned, we don’t come to these race tracks hoping we have speed. It’s just we’re hoping these races play out where speed really matters. I don’t know. I just feel pretty good about it, but I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in my day. I’m not going to let myself get too high or too low in any given situation. I’m going to just go for the result and win.”
How important has FedEx been to your career?
“Good question. It’s been a fantastic partnership that we’ve had nearly 20 years. They’re the ones that really took a risk on me when I was just running the Xfinity Series about fifth to eighth (place) every week, and J.D. Gibbs said this is the move we want to make and put him in there. So, they’re the ones that really took a risk. So certainly, that risk paid off for many, many years and I couldn’t be happier to be aligned with FedEx. I’ve got to do a lot of great things with them off the track as well. We’ve rebuilt houses, done some things with Salvation Army, Team Rubicon – just some great things. They’re a company that has given back to the local communities unlike any other. When Covid happened, getting important medical supplies to hospitals and whatnot that needed it. So, it’s certainly a relationship that has made my career. It’s made it a lot easier being aligned with someone for that long and we’re going to continue to represent them on and off the race track for a time to come. I certainly feel happy about that relationship and certainly it happened because of Joe Gibbs and his relationship, but I’ve been very proud to represent that company.”
About Toyota
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