TOYOTA RACING – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
RICHMOND, Va. (August 14, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Friday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Richmond Raceway.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Bob’s Discount Furniture Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Were you aware of that Corey Heim wasn’t aware of Rookie of the Year next year?
“No. I wasn’t made aware of it, nor was I aware of what our what the plan was. I don’t think that we necessarily designated the certain amount of races based off of that.”
What your thoughts on the ruling that he’s no longer eligible for it?
“No, no. It’s weird because they did say, oh, it’s a case by case, which I usually, you just have a number. But it sounds like they put out a number, but it’s a new number, maybe?”
Any reason that you weren’t made aware of that?
“I don’t know.”
This is your second-to-last race at Richmond unless plans change. Is there any thoughts or emotion knowing that?
“I just love how technical this racetrack is and certainly, how special this racetrack itself is to all of us, and so, yeah, I mean, I don’t know, there’s got to be a last time for everything. So it doesn’t really make me feel one way or another knowing that, there’s just a couple more shots at it.”
What are your thoughts moving this race back to the Chase next season?
“Yeah, I’m excited for the racetrack to get a Chase race and certainly to kick off the Chase. So, there should be a lot of extra added excitement to this area and this race in particular for next year – the first race of the Playoffs or Chase always is. So, it’ll be a good boost for this racetrack, which, this is one that I believe is important to our schedule.”
What were your thoughts on your seats being dedicated this morning?
“Yeah, it’s awesome. For many years, and I think my mom still has her season tickets, I believe. It’s a great gesture by Lori (Collier Waran, track president) and her old staff here. Certainly, very appreciated. It’ll be a great weekend.”
How does it feel to be in sight of the regular season championship?
“It’s been a great run and beyond that too, it’s been also equally a horrible run for the 45 (Tyler Reddick). I said from the beginning that without help, it was not going to be possible. We got the help that we needed with it with those guys. So it’s a lot different than what I thought it was going to be. Certainly, and at that time, I wasn’t that far ahead of third, fourth, fifth. So, like there was still an influx of like, I thought at one point in the season, it might have been around there. Well, before the Pocono win, and really those three wins in a row, I was like, if I don’t run great, I can fall back to sixth or seven. So that obviously is not an option now, but yeah, you just never know what can happen in the sport, but yeah, I would have never thought two months ago would be in the position that we’re in that, you know, we go out here and we have the weekend, we hope to have this weekend, we’re going to feel pretty good.”
What does the moves in points show about the point system?
“Yeah, it rewards good performance, and it rewards good performance over a sustained period of time as well. We’re seeing not only those guys, but like with the 22 (Joey Logano), the wins matter, running well, getting stage points all matters, and you can claw yourself out of the bottom when you’re there. You just got to step up in performance, and all of those teams I talked about have done that in the last six weeks and the standings are showing for it. Now, I bet they wish they didn’t have such a slow start. They would have had a much closer shot. But still, when this thing resets, short of the top four, everybody from fifth to about 16th is going to gain about 300 points on me. So, they are going to feel pretty good.”
Do you feel more optimistic this season about the championship or are you not allowing yourself to think about that at this point?
“It’s way too soon. I mean, the short-term goal is the regular season or whatever it’s not called. So, I would say that has been the focus and like, how can I win that? That started around the winning three in a row, and so, the Chase is just different. The schedule’s different. Like we went through some tracks here lately where it’s not been our best ones and we’re still we’re still doing our thing on the weekend. So, it certainly makes me a lot more optimistic knowing that really the last 10 races where really good tracks are.”
What is your connection to your hometown?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s the time I get to see them. It’s really time I get to see my brother and sister that still live up here that I don’t get to see quite as much, so always getting to see them during race weekend is good. I’ve seen them during the holidays, but that’s about it. So, it is all the above. Lots of high school friends, they got their own campsite out there that will be amazing if they don’t get arrested by the end of tomorrow. Travis is 26 beers in. It’s been 18 hours. They’re on quite the run right now. So it’s fun hanging out and I got in late last night, stopped by the campsite. They were still going. It’s fun to be able to kind of let those guys let loose out there at a very safe distance for me (laughter).”
Do you do anything specific when you come back home?
“A little bit. I went back to Chesterfield after Phoenix of last year, spent some time, and, you go to your breakfast places, and certainly you have a little bit more of a warm welcome there than you probably do at any other city that I go to.”
Why is there a disconnect between qualifying and racing here?
“Yeah, I think the average starting position for the winner is somewhere around 6.7, something like that. So yeah, you just kind of put yourself somewhere in that range. I think a lot of the reason is that qualifying here is extremely, extremely technical. I would say it’s probably the hardest to qualify to hit your marks. I spent tons of time trying to work on it this week. I never got all four (turns), not at the same time. That’s why I think that sometimes whoever’s got the best car doesn’t qualify on the pole because it’s just really, really difficult to put it all together, and sometimes someone with a decent car can just hit the marks just right, and that’s when they get the pole. So, I think the technicality of the actual line that you have to run that makes it to where you see comers and goers here.”
You’ve mentioned here just about having that quote unquote special kind of feel, can you maybe get more insight on what exactly that is?
“It’s tough to say. I mean, you can’t really even put it into words. It’s extremely hard to kind of tell you what it is. It’s all the above. You got to enter the corner as fast as you can. You got to turn the center and you got to be pointed straight off, and so, those things that seem really, really easy to do, but the way the track is laid out and the banking angle in certain parts of the corner makes it really difficult to do all those things, and that’s why you’ll see somebody hit it every now and then just dominate.”
What does being so ingrained in the track’s history now?
“I’ve seen it for so many years, but even when we were up in the stands today and I’m looking down across the track and I’m standing kind of where I used to come in to the grandstands. I remember being right by the fence and then looking at turn one, looking at turn four. It’s like the same. A friend asked me, what’s different? Nothing. It is the same Richmond that it’s been ever since I’ve known it. Now, I wasn’t around or nor did I get to see it during its Fairground days. Even that was before my time. It’s the same track that I remember, and I just remember watching some of the guys that were really, really good here, do turn four a little bit different and now the whole field does those things. All the field has gotten so smart, but I really liked that the speedway itself spent a lot of money on the infield experience for the fans, and certainly we want to get this place back to pack every single time we come here, like it used to be in the past.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
