Toyota GAZOO Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 22, 2025) – 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 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
What makes Homestead a ‘driver’s’ race track?
“I think there’s a combination between the tire wear you have at this track versus the way the track sets up itself. Really can make a lot of different moves – you can cut distance or you can try to keep momentum, and that’s something that has to be fluid throughout the run. As a driver, you have a lot of tools at your disposal when you come to this track to change your line to help the race car do things it’s not doing well at the time. Certainly, it’s a lot of off throttle time and that usually, when you have to use both pedals, the driver is tested more.”
What does having Progressive as a sponsor mean for you and the team?
“It doesn’t take pressure off me necessarily, more Joe Gibbs Racing when you have a loss of revenue there, certainly, can make things tighter on their side. But really, it’s good for them to have an anchor partner and certainly for my fans’ sake, they’ll be able to identify me week-to-week and that’s something that’s very important. So filling out those races is going to be a big deal for myself and the team this year.”
How involved are you in the paint schemes for the throwback weekend at Darlington and what is the throwback’s impact?
“It seems like the throwback has lost a little of it for sure and a lot of it is we kind of get mixed up in a sense of there’s really no defined rules for it, so it’s a mix there. But there’s some really cool paint schemes that you see. It’s very difficult to make the cars look the same as there’s so many different placements, there’s a lot of things that are different than what they used to be. But it’s still something that is cool to see. You just don’t have buy-in from everyone. There’s a mix-and-match throughout the field, which is fine.”
Where would you like Homestead to be on the schedule in the future?
“I would certainly like to see it play a bigger factor in our championship. Whether it’s in the Playoffs, just a part of the championship race or round, or whatever it might be, I’d like to see it be a part of that as like we just talked about, the driver makes a bigger difference at this track compared to the car.”
Is it harder to keep track of who’s driving which car with sponsor changes?
“Yeah, it’s very interesting. You’d see photos that surfaced on social media from the 90s and 2000s and you took a snapshot of the field. You could name every car, driver from 1-40, based off the color. You knew the color. Now, it’s certainly very hard and got sometimes, multiple sponsors on one car and each one wants something different. Certainly, a lot different than it used to be. What I like about Progressive, and this paint scheme is it’s going to be identifiable. One color, that is unique that you can find anywhere in the field. But it’s hard as every sponsor wants something different and it’s harder to get the money you got back in the day.”
Do you feel more optimistic of winning at Homestead compared to other tracks?
“Yeah, it’s (Homestead-Miami Speedway) is in the top-five for me. I feel like it’s one of those tracks, again, we (drivers), can make a difference and my car was very good here just a few months ago and we had some issues on pit road (during the race). We weren’t great but had a shot to win it with a couple laps to go, I just didn’t get it done ultimately. Looking back at the race, it was one where were pretty strong so hopefully, we can build upon (that). Ultimately, I just want to win, and this is a track where we can kick that off.”
Do you have a favorite memory at Martinsville Speedway?
“Yeah, my favorite memory is going there, it being a three-horse race with myself, Jeff (Gordon) and Jimmie (Johnson). You could just mark it down that we’d run 1-2-3 or run that way through the course of the race. Just learning so much from those guys is my favorite memory. Not just one single memory but just going there knowing I’d have to out-duel two of the best in our sport. It was just a really fun time.”
What makes Martinsville challenging?
“Nowadays, it’s just track position. The cars are so close in speed than what they used to be. I actually saw a graph this weekend on where Next Gen has gone, even at a track like Homestead, the disparity between the first and last-place car. It was, say ‘this much in Year 1 of Next Gen’ and everyone’s (now) the same. You put that on a short track, it just makes passing really difficult. That is the single biggest challenge at Martinsville nowadays.”
Does it seem like the same drivers are at the top this year and how much from the fall carries over to Homestead from the fall race?
“To the first part of your question, yes, the best drivers are the best drivers, so it’s hard to hold that down. And the best teams are the best teams. For the second part, we weren’t here not too long ago so I’d imagine you’d have the same five or six that pretty much dominated the race last time do the same this time unless someone finds something in their setup that makes things quite a bit better. But the counter to that is (Las) Vegas, at the end of it, (pause). The strategy flipped. You had a situation where we were part of the very strategy, so that whole group that stayed out with 75 (laps) to go, pretty much finished towards the front and those that got stuck in the pack, that pitted for fuel, never made it back to the front, who were your essential front runners that day. It can get mixed up, but for the most part, but if the race runs long enough, and if the strategy works out pretty vanilla, you’ll see the top teams, top drivers, always.”
With all races being named by a driver with their last name starting with a B, are you close to changing your name?
“Yeah, it’s been an interesting trend, for sure. Will it continue this weekend? Yeah, there’s one certainly that has a chance to continue it, but not much else.”
Do you feel short track racing has improved since the genesis of the Next Gen car? What else needs to improve on those tracks?
“I think the tire has helped quite a bit, but it’s been an evolution. Like I talked about, when the disparity between the fastest car and the slowest car was much bigger when we started Next Gen, it was still tighter than when we had the Gen 6 car. Over time, it’s tightened up, but what the tire is doing is starting to spread that out in the long run. So, it’s bringing a lot of positives. Goodyear is testing themselves right now, trying to get softer at all of the tracks, which will be such a bonus. Every race track we’ve talked about this year and it being a better race, which it has been, you can attribute that to the changes we made to the tires and creating tire falloff. That’s absolutely the equation we’ve been searching for, and we’re finally getting it in the show you are seeing on Sundays.”
What goes into your preparation for Martinsville?
“It’s a little different for me than what it is for the race team. They’ll start working on that probably two or three weeks in advance. They have to get a car built, what parameters they want to have for that car at that particular track. For me, I narrow it down into a five-day window. I’m all about one track for five days and then, I’ll switch. Tuesday is my off day. It really switches in that essence, but five days is what I can concentrate on one race track. Monday is the final day I’ll be working on Homestead and then Wednesday, I’ll switch to Martinsville. Then, I’ll run that stretch over again. It’s easier for me than the team, but I’ve found that works for me.”
How would you describe your relationship with crew chief, Chris Gayle five races into the season?
“Yeah, I felt last week was a little tough as we were so far off to start the day. But what I’m noticing is we’re getting better as races go on, which is very good. It’s a good trend to have. We just have to start closer; we need to have better qualifying. All of those fall on my shoulders, not really the team’s. So, I feel confident in where we’re at and I feel like we’re messing as good as I would’ve hoped.”
How have you seen Ty Gibbs adapt to the adversity so far this season?
“Yeah, I don’t see him (Ty Gibbs) a whole lot other than at the race track, right? And how he handles adversity he’s going through during the week, I don’t know. I’ve certainly offered a helping hand to that team. This is just a tough part of the sport you find yourself in and there’s some things you can change to change the result. Other things, fall on the luck bucket. But still, sometimes, if you get crashed a lot, you happen to run in the place that gets crashed a lot. So, you need to figure out how to get out of that. He’s in a slump, no doubt, but have to find a way to grind through it. It’s a long season. We could be talking about in 10 weeks from now how much he’s turned it around, so it can change in this sport that quickly.”
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