Toyota Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (October 26, 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 Homestead-Miami Speedway.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Mavis Tire Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Have you analyzed whether you could advance to the Championship 4 on points?
“I mean, surely you could. You just have to have one or two of the guys up front stub their toe and you be elite. That’d be the only way.”
Is there anything you do with your pit crew after last weekend’s race?
“No, you ride with the group you got. They’re certainly in a slump, for sure. But, we got to ride it out and feel like that’s the best group we can put on pit road. And certainly, it’s not due to talent or anything like that. They have all the keys they need for that. They were the best pit crew for the first quarter of this year. But, certainly, it’s been a lot of different issues on pit road. Pretty much most times we come down (pit road), it’s been different things, so can’t really pinpoint one consistent problem we’ve had. So, just have to see where it goes.”
Is there a reason for the recent struggles for your team in regard to speed?
“Yeah, I mean I certainly think we’re not leading laps. That’s definitely an indicator of speed. We haven’t done that over the last several weeks, certainly. You know, I don’t know. Again, I think some of it is schedule. We’ve had three of these typical ovals we’ve had in the series – Bristol is one of them we’ve ran top-three all day. Kansas, every time we got right at the lead, we had a bad pit stop. And then, (Las) Vegas, obviously, was just wheels came off on that one. It’s just (pause). And that’s been seven weeks’ worth. You have the road courses. I’m not going to lead a bunch of laps there. Not going to show a ton of speed there. And then the superspeedways. So, it just feels like forever. It’s certainly not the best time to not be on our A-game, all around, myself included. The good news is, we still have a chance, even this late in the game.”
Do you look at Martinsville, with the new tire compound expected, as an advantageous race for you?
“Yeah, it’s certainly exciting to go there with a tire we’ve never seen before, right? Something that’s going be really soft and certainly sounds like tire management was a thing when they were testing it. The only difference is, certainly, you’re going to have all those cars out there to rubber (the track) up, so tire wear will go away, somewhat. I really applaud Goodyear to put this tire on in the Playoffs. Certainly, excited to see how that turns out.”
If you’re in a must-win situation next weekend, do you feel like you can accomplish that?
“I certainly can. The ‘will’ of you is the real question. If I knew how the race would play out, I’d do a better job driving. It’s just, these are variables, and you have 35 other guys that have different plans than letting you win. You know, it’s very difficult to win these races. We’ve seen that. Certainly, feel like it’s a race track if I had to (win to advance), I’m certainly capable. The ‘will,’ I don’t know.”
How do you get your team motivated and back on track? Who handles that – yourself or Chris Gabehart?
“Yeah, I think he (Chris Gabehart, crew chief) does a great job of that. You know, I think that it’s, truthfully, as bad as the Playoffs have gone for us, we’re in the situation we are with three to go. It just shows that in this system, you always have a chance until that last cutoff race is over with. It doesn’t matter how far back you are in points, you just have to find a way in, and sometimes, you can run 10th and win that day. Christopher Bell, I remember lapping him earlier in this race last year and then he comes back and wins the race. Anything can happen, and certainly, you’re never out of it until they throw the checkered. Chris does a really good job pumping the team up, keeping them motivated and getting the best out of them. And certainly, we all go through these swells when we’re not performing our best and certainly, the timing is not ideal right now, but every week is a new week with them and me. So, I feel optimistic going into this one that we’ve done the work in the week to get better and we’re all going to hopefully perform our best.”
What do you have to do differently to get better results?
“I don’t know. I think it starts a half hour from now (for practice). You treat each individual session – qualifying session and practice session, and race, each of them individually. And I think, in this sport, momentum is very overrated when it comes to this sport. It’s very week-to-week, in my opinion. But, just, we have to perform like we’re capable of and we just haven’t shown that in quite some time. So, where do I start? I make sure no matter what, I’m giving the team the information they need. I make sure I’m putting in the work during the week to get better. I make sure that, you know, I execute on the race track and give the team a better opportunity to succeed. There’s lots of things in my bucket of improvement that I need to get out.”
How and what do you talk to Tyler (Reddick) about heading into this race?
“Yeah, we certainly had those discussions and feel like, you know, it’s a very fine line with Tyler (Reddick). His aggressiveness is what makes him so fast. But sometimes, it doesn’t get you to the finish. But there’s a fine line, right? If you start trying to pull back and change the way you’ve always done things, sometimes, you can doubt too much. And certainly, in our situations, you have to make split-second decisions, you don’t have time to (pause), you have to trust your instincts and live with the outcome. And certainly, I’ve stated my opinion on it. There’s not many positive things to come out of that situation. Pretty early on, I was 50 yards behind. I saw it coming for some time. But, yeah, you’re in that cocoon and you just can’t see everything all the time. You just try to trust your gut and I think he’s going to be successful long after I’m gone because of those instincts.”
Do you have to be very aggressive in this format, with like you said, this sport being so week-to-week?
“I think you answered your own question. But I think, yes. I think it is hard. Track position is harder than it’s ever been, so it’s really hard for the fast cars to show they’re fast until they get there. And sometimes, they never get there. So, the field gets mixed up through ill-timed cautions, things like that. Once you get buried (pause), I remember last week at (Las) Vegas, I was running 15th at the time and there’s Ty (Gibbs) and the 5 (Kyle Larson) racing for the lucky dog and they couldn’t go anywhere. It was log-jammed. I think that really puts more of an emphasis on execution of the race and making sure you don’t make any mistakes to lose track position now more today than ever. And so, that’s why it’s hard for that to happen week, after week, after week, especially with the different variation of race tracks. So, I just think it’s a product of the Next Gen (car). Somewhat survival and don’t take yourself out. And certainly, we haven’t done a very good job of that. But you would argue that we’ve gotten away with some finishes we probably didn’t deserve on certain days. It’s very difficult. All the cars are very even. All the drivers drive like each other now, so it’s just really hard to make passes, so you certainly need that aggression to separate yourself from the others.”
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