NASCAR CUP SERIES: HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400

October 24, 2021

Denny Hamlin

Pit Road

An Interview with:

Q. So it seemed like today for the 11 team it was flashes of brilliance here and there. How would you size up your fifth-place finish?

DENNY HAMLIN: Not a lot of brilliance. Just very average. Just weren't very good. First half of the race we had the balance kind of out of whack and once we got a little better the speed picked up. So certainly not fast enough to run with the Chevys or Hendrick cars right now on these types of racetracks. But we've got 750s coming up where we've been very, very strong. And just hope to have a solid day next week and move on.

Q. Denny, when the car was overheating how close were you to saying I've got to pull it in, this is too much?

DENNY HAMLIN: I wasn't to that point. We were right up against the limit. So just understood kind of situational awareness what was going on with some other guys. So make sure that we didn't try to give it away there.

Q. Back to the beginning of the race and so much concern with the wind. You didn't ultimately damage it didn't look like in a big way the 11 car. How did you avoid that?

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, you really had to be careful. You had to be careful when you were on the inside of somebody. Really could take away a lot of air to the front end. It just would take off. I saw people having issues, so I just kind of took it down a notch there. Made sure I managed my risk.

Q. Some would say there's no safe place to be. You are P3 plus 32 heading to one of your best racetracks in Martinsville next weekend.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah. Just want to have a good solid day. I think we'll have a really good car when we go there. Want to battle for a win. If we battle for a win we're going to be fine no matter where we finish.