TOYOTA RACING – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
DARLINGTON, SC (March 21, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Have you noticed any former teammates racing you harder after they leave their organization?
“I think there’s always going to be animosity from anyone that gets let go from their position. That’s human nature. I don’t think anyone – you don’t have to be a good person or a bad person to have that sort of feeling. Truthfully, my relationship with my teammates always got better when we were no longer teammates. (laughter) I mean, that’s just factual. We always were closer after their time was up. So, I don’t know. Different for everyone, but certainly you can’t stop human nature.”
Have you ever thought about getting to Dale Earnhardt’s number or Kyle Busch’s win number or is that in pie in the sky?
“I think it’s pie in the sky, realistically, I think that, you know, given the runway, Kyle’s (Busch) career – he’s still got more years to go than I will. He’s capable of running and winning long after I’m gone. I think I’m kind of where I’m at, and where I think I will be, but you just never know. I mean, each win stacks up and, you know, 50 was a goal at one point. So, you just keep moving, keep moving the bar as far as you can. I think that I’ve certainly got more wins than what I would have imagined. It’s just now can we, can we get the big prizes at the end of the year? That’s the only goal left to have other than the Brickyard is certainly one that still is mindful of me personally, of where I’m at.”
Has the start of the season impacted you possibly wanting to go past 2027?
“I’m not really sure. I think that I’ve given Gibbs enough of a heads up that they’re working on the plans for beyond. So as long as those all go as planned, I would, I still assume that the end of ‘27 is it. I just don’t want to go to my last half of the year or year just like, can’t wait to get out. If I could end on notes like we have like seasons like this one is starting, then that would be a successful last year for me.”
Do you want to have a farewell tour?
“No, no, I’m good on that.”
Is this going to be your last contract?
“Well, I mean, things always change. You just never know, but it’s what I would like, but again, I don’t know all the moving parts and pieces beyond what happens between now and bout 20 months from now. So, you just don’t know, but I thought that was a good enough timeline and enough heads up that, that they could make plans.”
How did you get to the thought where you thought 67 would be potentially the final win total?
“Just averages over the years. If you average the last 10 years or something like that, it’s about 3.5 wins a year. That puts me right around that number. That’s assuming that I don’t wake up in 2027 and have a declining skill set. That’s why it’s still a goal. It’s not the pie in the sky, but it’s still going to take some work to do.”
Have you had any issues with any teammates over the years and how did you handle that?
“None of them. I mean, really, none of them. I mean, I think, now I think about it, me and Joey (Logano) is the one that was better with than what it was without, but still it doesn’t mean I don’t respect them. I never really had any long standing animosity towards any teammates. I think everyone had been really, really fair to me over the course of my career, and again, a lot of it is, I really had a lot of experienced teammates, guys that were older than me and more experienced, and guys that won a lot of races, so I really respected a ton. So, no, not really. I can truthfully say that I’ve never had any issues long term with any of them.”
How did your background in late models help you with managing tires here at Darlington?
“Late models is low horsepower, short tracks. It’s easy and hard off. That’s just the general mindset when it comes to these types of racetracks that wear tires out is easy on corner entry, hard on a corner exit, and you just take that philosophy to all these tracks that we wear tires on, it typically works really well. I just was really lucky early in my career to get a test here. I watched Brent Crews run his very first couple laps in the simulator at Darlington, and I just watched him just like pound the wall off a turn two, like lap after lap after lap (laughter), and that’s just that’s exactly what I was doing, and only it was real life. I didn’t have the virtual option back then, and so just kind of watching him and saying here’s where you need to be at this point of the corner and here’s your lift point typically. I actually got in the O’Reilly simulator and ran some laps kind of as a bogey lap for him. It was just, I was very lucky to be able to be at a test here with Tony Stewart when he was here in a Cup car, and I got to come here in an O’Reilly car, and just run laps and learn from him, and after eventually wearing the sheet metal off the right side and having nothing left but the 4 by 4 that they put in the door. I figured out how to get around here, and at that point, I latched onto the track.”
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