TOYOTA RACING – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
RIDGEWAY, Va. (March 28, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
This is Hamlin’s first pole of the season and 49th of his career. Toyota has now won the pole for the three consecutive races, and four of the last five.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Bob’s Discount Furniture Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
How would you characterize your relationship with Kevin Harvick now?
“Yeah, I mean, very similar to kind of how we talked about last week, the teammates, very similar. We weren’t great friends on the racetrack. We had some run ins here and there. Later in his career, we were definitely a lot more friendly and certainly you talk about those years, like 2020, 2021, when it was our team versus their team, usually on a weekly basis, just gained it just a ton of respect for him and his whole team through that run, and so we raced really well together, probably the last 10 years of my career.”
You are now 10th all-time in poles, and just a couple behind Ryan Newman. Does that mean something to you?
“It’s pretty awesome. Really, with age, the hardest part is actually still having the fast time. You know what I mean? It’s one thing to be able to kind of manage races and understand – use your experience to your advantage, but usually the first thing that goes is your all-out speed, and we’re still knocking off poles, which is really good. I was around when (Ryan) Newman was just unstoppable in qualifying, so damn, I didn’t know he had that many. That was a lot.”
Is there a certain number of poles you are looking to get?
“Yeah, I don’t know whether it will change much other than just, make me feel better. I can’t compromise my preparation for a race to really focus on, all right, well, I want to get five more poles, right? If I never get another one, it’s possible. I never get another one, then that’s fine, but I never really go into any weekend thinking about qualifying on the pole. It’s kind of a sidebar for how did my Saturday go.”
How does the pole cap your day? Did you think it was possible going into qualifying?
“I knew it was possible. Simply from kind of where my car was in practice, and anytime that I’ve got fast lap speed in practice here at Martinsville, that’s in the top 12, I think that you’re close enough there that qualifying trim doesn’t change your car that much and so you’ve got enough speed to where if you nail it and you do a good job as a driver, you’ve got a chance at the pole. So, I knew it was very possible but truthfully, I approached the lap to get in the top eight. That was that was the goal and executing that lap is that – I think I would go faster if I went out and did it again right now. I think I’ll go ahead and stand on my time on this one.”
How do you teach this place to someone who doesn’t have the rhythm or pace?
“I think in a few years, I’ll be able to do that more with him. There’s plenty of tracks where I think that he can improve greatly and I could probably help him with that. That’s the advantage that team has right now is that just – they got an extra teammate over there and I’m certainly unleashing my journal of decades of notes that those guys get to hear each and every Monday, but this place, it takes time. When I say it takes time, not like experience time, it would take a solid two races here of just in his ear after practice, qualifying, race to just change a few things here and there to change the style, change the approach, and more than likely be right there.”
How important is it to lock Tyler Reddick up and have him a part of 23XI’s long term future?
“He will be. Tyler’s (Reddick) one of those guys that was very important for us to, to get our hands on him very early as you talked about. I think he’s lived up to the expectations for us. Certainly, last year was not great, but like when his not great years are still in the top 10, those are the elite drivers. We’re seeing it this year. He’s putting it all together and our race cars are really fast too. They really are, and what I like about it is, they’re winning races that they’re overcoming something. They’re not just flat out dominating them, so that shows his maturity.”
Would you even worry about Tyler’s ego?
“No (laughter). I’ve been around lots of divas before and Tyler’s (Reddick), he’s not there yet. (laughter) His teammate’s definitely more of a diva than what Tyler is (laughter). That is 100% accurate. Riley (Herbst) is the most humble of them all, and it’s not even remotely close. He’s someone that just is still willing to learn on race winning weekends. Even after this hot start and I’m like 100s of points behind him. He’s still asking me questions like he’s behind me. He’s like, well, what about this, and what about that, and what about this? So, he’s still very much the student who is going to continue to just keep getting better and better.”
Looking at tomorrow, how much stock should we take into everyone’s speed tomorrow?
“Yeah, you can take you can take some, but this is such its own beast. It really is. There’s been years that our short track package has not been good at Joe Gibbs Racing, and we still come here and do what we normally do. I think you can take some stock in it, but you’re going to have to get past Richmond to really understand where the field is at.”
Are you looking forward to that when you retire and being all hands-on at 23XI Racing?
“I think they’ll get better when that happens, but maybe not. Just there’s no other owner that’s able to understand what these drivers are talking about, and able to designate resources to fix. There’s no other owners that can challenge when I hear something that I don’t think is necessarily correct and I can say, are you sure? Are you sure something else doesn’t lead to that? And then it prompts another thought and it’s, like yeah, you know what? Maybe that’s it because next thing you know, because they could be going off and off in a rabbit hole type of path. So that’s just the really the strategic advantage that we have over there. When I stop driving, I think I’ll still be able to contribute for a couple years, because I’ll be fresh out of the car but eventually it will be more traditional like the other teams are.”
Should it scare the competition that 23XI Racing could be even better?
“Yeah, but I think there’s negatives too, right? Once I get out of the car, I can’t fully challenge them on – are you sure the track did this? Because I was there (laughter). So, I will lose a little bit of that. I think what gets gained might get lost. It could be a wash.”
How are you physically feeling six races in?
“Oh, just get fatter, truthfully (laughter). I can’t play the sports I like to play. That’s about it, but it’s holding up – to be at this point, you know, a lot of it too is that I’m really being cautious with all the other things to not aggravate. So, when I come here on the weekend, I know that it’s like 100 percent – it’s as good as it’s going to be. So, it’s not too bad. Last week, wore me down pretty good. It’s been a while since I’ve been that wore down after a race, and certainly I felt it in the shoulder, but I feel like if it stays on this pace, I’ll be fine for the end of the year.”
What are your thoughts on Hall of Fame induction?
“Check me out Monday night. We talk about it.”
What should fans look for tomorrow?
“I don’t think from the fans sitting in the stands perspective, you’ll see a whole lot of difference, but there certainly will be inside the car. This place is really technical. It’s going to make it harder to hit your marks with the additional horsepower and certainly the tire change that we had from last fall. I mean, what are you looking for? What happens when the leader gets to the back of the pack? That’s what you should pay attention to. Who gets stuck and then who keeps going forward and passing cars? That’s going to be the X factor.”
Can you talk more about your philosophy for hiring at 23XI?
“The general question is really good, and it would take a really long time to explain it all. But if you’re building a race team and it is a puzzle, all I did was put the big pieces in, and then they filled out all the other little pieces of this thing to make it kind of what it is, right? The main 10, 12 guys, those are the ones I went and recruited and said, these are the ones I want running these departments, and they know talent when they see it, and they’re going to go then hire the right people to, the smaller pieces that fit in, that makes this whole thing work. Again, we have less people because we pay a hefty service fee to JGR, right? We could take that eight million and just get more employees, but is then aren’t we just doubling up? Aren’t we just doing the same work that they’re doing two miles away? Is that the best thing for Toyota? I’m not really sure. I think it’s better when we work together, consolidate resources, and at that point, have seven cars that are going out there and competing.”
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