Toyota GAZOO Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 12, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Wednesday prior to the Daytona 500.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
For 20 years, FedEx was your sponsor for this race. Is it strange to be wearing different colors?
“It is different. When I get to the bus for the first time and I see that there is a new suit – you’ve had these, in the middle of the season, whatnot, but certainly, the Daytona 500, starting a new season, first time in 20 years. It is different, but it is time for change and certainly, we are really happy to have National Debut Relief on the car. It is a partnership that is going to go beyond just this race.”
What does this race mean to you?
“For me, I try to tell people that we tell people that we try so hard when we are kids, we are trying to get to the highest form of motorsports, but to win its biggest race is one of the things that we aspire to do. To have done it three times is certainly special. If any of you have the question on what will the fourth mean, I can’t answer that. I tried to figure out what it would mean to win one, and I didn’t have any idea until I won one, and I didn’t have any idea, until after I won two, what two meant. It is all really, really hard to put into words – but the attention when you come back, you are in an elite class of drivers that have won this multiple times. It is just one of those things that stays on your resume forever.”
What do you feel like you need to accomplish to be in contention for another 500 win?
“I think it starts with tonight, truthfully. Where I really feel like we’ve lost results on superspeedways, it is because we qualify in the back, and once the track gets logjammed two-by-two or three-by-three, there is nowhere to go, and then it is executing on pit road. All of the things that I grew up trying to learn to be really, really good at – that is foot on the gas, trying to figure this thing out, get to the front at all costs, that is the opposite of how you become successful in the Next Gen superspeedway racing. It is how that I can slow down more to give my pit crew less time on pit road. How do I get on-and-off pit road – on the race track, I feel dialed in, just as I did in the old race car. It is all of the other things that the races are won, that I’ve got to get better at in the Next Gen era.”
When did qualifying matter this much in the 500?
“It has never mattered as much as it matters now – simply because the way these cars punch holes in the air, there is just not the ability to drive from the back to the front. The last year of the Gen 5 car, I restarted 29th at Talladega on a green-white-checkered and won the race. That day is over with. You have to be well upfront.”
Has qualifying been a focus?
“It has from our team standpoint. We always said that qualifying didn’t matter at Daytona and Talladega – that was true when you could really make a lot of moves, now it is really, really difficult. What I am just looking for is progression. If you look at all of the Toyotas, and we qualify on average 25th on these types of tracks, can we get that better tonight? Can we move that number to 20th or 18th or something in the right direction to give ourselves a better chance.”
How has your relationship with Joe Gibbs changed as you became an owner?
“Joe (Gibbs) has been great – just like he has always been. He has been my second father – my first father on the race track for all of my career. I believe that we’ve actually come closer in the sense that we are talking about – now that I’m an owner, I give my perspective on things. He has been so used to things going one certain way, and now that has been challenged a bit, I think he has opened his eyes a little bit.”
How does Bubba Wallace get on a faster start this season?
“That’s the point of emphasis for the 23 (Bubba Wallace) team. No doubt about it. They have had 10-to-12 races stretches in his career where he has been as a top-five driver and team. They’ve not done it for 26 races or 36 races yet. They’ve not put it together for a full season yet. It is unfortunate because what has happened is a panic in the last 10 races before the Playoffs start – oh my gosh, we’ve got to get more points – if we would have started that process earlier, we wouldn’t have been in a panic. I think it is for Bubba is that every race is very important. I fought it for most of my career. I fought getting off to slow starts, and it wasn’t until the summer months. Tony Stewart was always known for, well, wait till it gets to the summer. He will pick it up then. Well as the formats have changed, and the regular season you are accumulating points and are you going to get in or not – it has made more of an emphasis on you have to be solid. If you are not one of the guys that are guaranteed to win every win, you have to be solid from beginning to end.”
What is your perspective on practice before qualifying?
“I think if they open up the racetrack, we are going to run. To each their own. We saw a few issues with some cars that needed to get some things worked out. I think it is just a good warmup for our qualifying, and some sort of preview – any preview is a good one, even if it is optical.”
What are your expectations for Riley Herbst?
“My expectations are that he is going to perform better than 95 percent of people’s expectations. I think there is still going to be a learning curve there, but I just want to see him get better as the year goes on. I know that is a cliché answer, but I believe he is better than people think. I know his team is good. I really want to see him contend inside the top-20 on a regular basis by race 15.”
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