NASCAR CUP SERIES: FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400

August 19, 2024

Denny Hamlin

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We've got the winning team owner with us now, Denny Hamlin. If you could talk about what this win means to 23XI.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, first time that our team has been leader of the points standings, which is fantastic, especially this deep in the season, right? This is when you really got to be firing on all cylinders. Really it looks like both cars are on it right now.

It's super unfortunate for the 23. That's racing, as they say. Yeah, the 45, you want to have multiple bullets in the gun. Felt like we had that in Michigan today. When the 23 stumbled, the 45 was just as fast, right there to pick up the pieces.

Really proud about where their speed's at and what they're showing right now.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said Tyler before is going to be the guy of the future. How has he met those expectations, how he's developed and how he's helped this team get to this level?

DENNY HAMLIN: I mean, the biggest thing, right, is I hired him off of what I saw on the racetrack. I didn't know how much of that was natural talent. I didn't know how much of that was him working to get better. I didn't know. I just knew the results. I raced around him enough to know that guy pushes the edge, he can find the edge of the car.

What I've been really happy to see is that he just works. He asks a lot of questions. He's very, very humble. He just really is always trying to get better. He's going to come away this weekend with a laundry list of things that he feels like he can do better and the team can do better. That's what I'm most impressed with. It's why he's going to be winning races and championships long after I'm gone.

Q. Sounds a lot like how you do things. Are you rubbing off on him? How much is he rubbing off on you?

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I think you should ask him. But we talk a lot. He asks me a lot of questions. There's been many times this year where we're racing each other and I'm like, I tell him to do that. It goes both ways. Like, I really feel like he's pushed me in some areas that I haven't been used to, as well. I think it's working well together.

But certainly I think there was a point in time where a few weeks ago, Tyler was talking about conserving this, saving that. I'm like, We got to get you back on the gas pedal. I think you're almost taking what I say to heart too much.

He's got an unbelievable ability to drive a car. Now that he's putting it all together, he's managing races the way I thought, that was the biggest thing I thought he could improve on when he came over, was managing. Now you're seeing these finishes because he's managing the races like a pro.

Q. For this young organization, how significant is today leading the points?

DENNY HAMLIN: It's legitimacy, right? I'm not going to say anybody, but almost anybody can be leading the points after two or three races, right? We're 20-some races in. All the averages have worked themselves out.

When we were in stage one right there, the top four in points were the top four on the racetrack. It's just not by happenstance.

It's awesome to see how tough they are. I mean, week in, week out, they're a tough out. It's certainly going to make my path a lot harder. That's what I started the team for. This is part of the crux of being a team owner and a driver, you're going to have to deal with the days they beat you.

To me, I give myself three shots to win every weekend. Yes, I would prefer that I win, but the winning feeling goes to about 80% when my cars win, right? It's still a really, really good day. It certainly helps with conversations that we have.

There's a lot of sponsors looking at 23XI. We're really happy about that. Those kind of performances, when you see that big M on the hood up front in Victory Lane, that's really big for our team, especially kind of being somewhat close to Chicago here, this area.

It just goes a long way. Certainly proud of all the work that the team has done to get to this point.

Q. He's got a 10-point lead. If he was going into Darlington right now, he'd feel better about hanging onto that. How would you approach it going into Daytona?

DENNY HAMLIN: Him?

Q. Yes. What do you think the best strategy is there? Should he be conservative, go throttle down, see what happens?

DENNY HAMLIN: I think all the guys battling for the regular season and for the cut line, I think everyone is going to race to get stage points simply because you just can't pass in this car on speedways like you used to be able to. I remember hanging back till the last 10 laps, then I'll drive right to the front. It just isn't like that now.

You can get a good finish. You're not going to win hanging in the back, but you can get a good finish. I'd almost say just try to get 10, 12 stage points, then if you wreck you wreck, right? At least that pushes you down to finishing 24th with no stage points, right, if you were to finish last. It could be a net even. I'm sure they're going to look at the numbers and figure out what is the best strategy.

Honestly next week I just hope we're not fuel saving. That's what I am hoping, that we're all just racing instead of fuel saving. That really kind of throws a kink in all of this.

Q. What does it mean when Michael Jordan is around the team? Have you heard from him today?

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I mean, he's obviously very excited. Him coming to Michigan, he's got a schedule of races that he's going to be going to here, the Playoffs as well. This is a fun hobby for him, fun business for him, right? This fills a lot of gaps of the competitiveness that he has lost by nothing being part of the Hornets anymore.

He's about winning. We had conversations, ownership meetings, where we're trying to figure out directions, what we're going to do with this, that and the other. It's always been, I want to win. I'm 60-something years old, I want to win. Do whenever we have to do to win (smiling).

That's really fun when someone who is such a big part of your team gives me the liberty to run this the way I see fit, make personnel changes the way I see fit, make hires for the future, giving me that autonomy. It's just awesome and it's why it's working so well.

Q. Reddick has been pretty hard on himself on races he he's not won. What can this win do?

DENNY HAMLIN: As kind of a fan boy watching there at the end, I'm ninth, and I see he's leading the race. Honestly, I was in a spot where I was ready to go home ninth before the first caution. Certainly I was like, Damn, that sucks for the 45. Then he gets passed. I'm like, That really stinks. He's able to get it back.

If you get the sample size big enough, it's all going to come back in the wash. The numbers are going to come back, right? You're going to win when you have the best car 35% of the time in the Next Gen era. You're going to go through spells where you only win 15% of the time when you have the best car. You're going to have other years where you win 60% of the time.

As long as you have a big enough sample size, while it's easy to get down in the moments where you had winning cars and didn't win, if you race here long enough, and he will, it's all going to work itself out and he'll have a big win total.

Q. I don't know if you saw the flip.

DENNY HAMLIN: I did.

Q. His car turned and went up. Is there any concern from the immediate view of it?

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I mean, the cars I feel like are pretty safe in roll-over situations. Seems like between that and intrusions, that's kind of the strong point of the Next Gen car. We saw with Preece, he had some bloody eyes, but he had a pretty violent one. His body was banged up, but he didn't have any serious injuries. That's what the goal of it was.

His looked obviously less violent. He was just right in the middle of the straightaway probably doing 185 or so when he turned sideways. I just don't know that you're going to be able to slow it down enough to keep the car on the ground in that situation.

As a driver, I haven't rolled one over, but I almost would rather roll one over than hit a wall head on at that speed. I just feel like you're at least getting rid of energy as you are of tumbling.

I can't speak for him, but certainly feel like we have a pretty safe car. I feel comfortable with the speeds that we're at. There's just going to be a way, when you turn these things sideways, with that pan underneath the bottom, it's literally like a wedge, the air is pushing that thing right over the top. Short of getting rid of the underbody, I just don't know how you're going to stop it.

Q. For your part, how hard did you have to fight to get the ninth?

DENNY HAMLIN: My car was bad. It was really, really bad. It was tore up. He sent me some pictures overnight that just did not look good. It's unfortunate, man. I hate that, that I did that to the team. Certainly set us back.

I still was optimistic because Chris is going to make sure he doesn't get me total Denny-downer information before the race starts. He was like, We're not going to get it back to where it was, but we can get it somewhat close.

Obviously after we started there, we were not close. We then just had to make adjustments to the car handling-wise to pick up the second that we did in the second half of that race.

I am going to run quickly out of here with my ninth.

Q. In your conversations with Tyler, how much strategy are you talking in the Playoffs where you're protecting your position? You must really be talking on preserving your car.

DENNY HAMLIN: I think we'll have those conversations week by week. Certainly I don't think you want to change too much right away.

Certainly the first round of the Playoffs, the guys eliminated are just the ones that have bad races or don't have any Playoff points. So he'll be in a good at least position.

Certainly, based off of performance, they should get to the final eight, I would think, pretty easily. But this is racing, and all kinds of crazy things can happen.

You just don't want to put the fear of God in him, Don't take this chance or that chance, 'cause then you end up with a bad result. I think you just got to do what you're good at and hopefully you don't get unlucky.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Denny.