Information By: TOYOTA RACING – LAS VEGAS, NV – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Yahoo Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you in a good vibe right now?
“I was a little worried going into the Playoffs with as few of Playoff points that we’ve had in quite some time, and certainly, the schedule wasn’t fitting for myself and the team, but we got through it, so now I feel like we have a great opportunity to go and win one of the next three races, and fight for it in Phoenix. Yeah, I really truly believe in odds and big sample sizes, and it was going so bad for so long there in the summer that, you just have to think that eventually this stuff kind of works itself out in the end. Play enough hands of black jack, you are only at a two percent deficit, if you don’t play 20 hands, you could lose all of them. You have to be patient and go through those swings sometimes.”
Have you been told anything about the approval or deadline for the charter you are getting from Stewart Haas Racing?
“No deadlines that I’m aware of, and no, we haven’t spoken to them about it. I think that is kind of more of a conversation that they would have with Stewart-Haas.”
Would you advocate seeing more intermediate tracks in the future on the schedule or are you okay just taking some of your own medicine with the road courses for the rest of your career?
“It is something that we debate with the 11 team – is – to take the next step, how much effort would that take from myself and resources and things like that. There are things you can do, but are you going to get enough return on that? The way the schedule sets up next year is – we are taking out this track, we are going to a couple more ovals in the Playoffs, so I think the schedule fits us a little bit better, so I don’t know if we have decided, but it is a discussion that we have between myself and Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) on what is our next steps on it, because certainly, it could have bitten us pretty good this year with the way the schedule laid out, but yeah, I think that I’m not opposed to how the schedule is, on a sense of how the schedule challenges drivers and challenges them in different types of techniques. You’ve got to be a more well-rounded driver, now-a-days, than you used to have to be because road courses weren’t such a big part of it. Road courses have never been, in NASCAR’s history, part of their DNA, but it has worked into that direction over the last handful of years. If that is a continuation, then I would say, hey, you maybe want to add some more resources to get better, but I just don’t know what the return on that investment is going to be if I had to start over right now.”
Is Homestead a place that you have circled?
“It has been good, but I still think there is one or two drivers that I think are a little better than what I am at that race track and their techniques, but I think, the right situation, I’m going to be right there in the top-five with a great shot to win it, but I am working on, how I can improve at all race tracks, but I just think that, yeah, these three set up nicely for us and there is no reason why we shouldn’t compete at all three of them.”
Have you given any thought to the dynamic of winning a championship while going through a lawsuit with them?
“Yeah, I would like to have that problem, truthfully (laughter). I always say if you have an issue, you cross that bridge when you get there, but it is a problem that I would love to have, but I would understand the responsibilities of a champion and certainly, knowing what I’m representing, I think I would be able to do a good job of separating the two.”
How do you view the strength of these eight teams?
“I mentioned on the podcast this week that I thought it was the strongest eight that we’ve had. That’s not – I probably kind of misspoke, because it is not, is it based off talent or that stuff? There has arguably been eight hall of famers in the Playoffs, before – and not saying there is not now, I think it is just how equal the field is. Other the 5 (Kyle Larson) team, that I put a little step above the other seven, I think there it is just wide open from that perspective. I think it is the most disparity we’ve had with those eight, so man, it is just who can get off on the right foot, these next weeks.”
Can you have a bad race and still point your way in?
“That part will be difficult. I don’t – if you have a bad finish, at the very end, after you’ve scored 20 stage points, I think you can probably get away with that, but an early exit from the race, and then thinking you are going to get in on points, given the race tracks, probably would be difficult to do, I would plan on that being a part of your point budget.”
Do you thrive with a lot going on?
“I don’t know if I do better, but it is just what I choose, right? I’m a work-acholic in every way, shape and form. It is just what I like to do. I like to set goals and then figure out how the process to achieve those goals, so it is self-inflicted in some instances, but in others, things pile on and you have this going on and that going on, what have you, you just put it in the tackle box, and it is stored away in its own little section, when I have to address it, I go back in there and open up that section of the tackle box and I work on that problem. I’d like to think my tackle box is pretty deep, and certainly, got a lot of storage in there. At my age, it is still something that I love to do, there is not a lot that I would like to eliminate from my daily life. As time goes on there is always going to be things that pop up that you just don’t plan for, but it is how do you react in those situations, and how do you manage them.”
Is being a race car driver at an elite level bad for your health?
“I think for me, it is physical. I know that I go through a cycle every single week, where it is Tuesday, where I can walk straight – but it just chronic back issues that I’ve had over time. I’ve had a lot of things, and cars ride rougher now than they ever have, because it is faster to go that way, so I think it is different for everyone. The young guys, like (Ryan) Blaney – he probably doesn’t feel a thing, go do whatever tomorrow. It is just different for all of us, for me, it is more taxing on the physical side than it is on the mental side, but for others, it probably flip flops. When you consume yourself with it so much, it certainly can take its toll on you, but there is other people that would race seven days a week if they could. It is – just even though we are all human – it is amazing how different how we all are.”
Is Christopher Bell the guy that people are not giving enough attention to?
“Yeah, I think that – they kind of went through a rough patch during the course of the summer, similar to us, where they were getting real bad finishes, crashing early in races – but they’ve always had really good, elite speed. A lot of the metrics that I look at show that he’s one of the fastest, when it comes to setting fast lap times and driver ratings, and things like that – probably laying in the weeds is a good way to summarize that 20 team and Christopher (Bell), but I think some of it is also his personality. He’s not outspoken that much. He’s soft spoken, so typically people like that always fly under the radar. Matt Kenseth – I consider them very, very similar, when I think about who Christopher is, and I got to work with both of them. I feel like there is a lot of Matt Kenseth in Christopher, kind of with their personalities and their talent level.”
How do you think Ty Gibbs will handle the team owner role next season?
“Yeah, I’m not sure what his responsibilities will be. I’m sure I will take to management on Monday and kind of ask some questions about it, but this is always probably always been Joe Gibbs’ plan is to hand this thing to his family to all of the generations, all of the grandkids, and whatnot, so I think this is just starting that process– but certainly, I think that as long as he is driving, he will probably be more hands on, but it will be something that will get Ty immersed in the ownership side early.”
How many pressure would a win this weekend take off your shoulders?
“It would be a big one for sure. You just get a little bit of extra time. You are not working on the next two race tracks; you are working on Phoenix instead. It just really probably would help the teams, more so than the driver, but the first race in the round of 8 is always one of the most important because of the advantage that you can get, but I’m not really sure if stats would back that up that people that have won their way in the round of 4 right away – I couldn’t tell you how the result has impacted the round of 4, because it is one race, but yeah, it would certainly would be awesome, and I would love to have that happen.”