Instead of a taunt, Denny Hamlin gave fans a choice after winning Sunday’s Cup playoff race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
“You can either get on the bandwagon,” he told them, “or you can get run over by it.”
Sparked by his series-high fifth victory of the season — moving him into the second round of the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season — Hamlin relished the moment with fans on the frontstretch.
It is a special place for him.
Two years ago, Hamlin agitated some fans when he told them after winning the Bristol night race: “I beat your favorite driver … all of them.”
Denny Hamlin moved on to the second round with his win, but there were others who felt good after the race.
This time, Hamlin’s comments weren’t as sharp but just as meaningful to him.
“You never know when it’s your last,” Hamlin later said. “This could be my last win. … We just never know.
“I try my best to enjoy the moment and do the best I can to rile up the fans any chance I get.”
Hamlin, who turns 45 in November, recently signed a two-year contract extension that will take him through the 2027 season. He acknowledges that will be his final contract, leaving him with 80 races left in his full-time Cup career. That’s part of the motivation that helps him thrive at an age when others have seen their performance drop.
“I just don’t want to end knowing, ‘Man, those last (80) races, I didn’t really give it my all. I could have had 70 wins and really buckled down,’” said Hamlin, who has 59 career Cup victories. “I’m going to regret one day not having the wins that the work ethic kept me from doing. That would weigh on me well beyond my driving career. There’s no way I could live with the weight on my shoulders knowing that I shipped it in for the last 70 or so races.”
Hamlin proud of team for ‘swinging for the fences’
Denny Hamlin joins the postrace show to praise his team for “swinging for the fences” to elevate his car to win, his outlook ahead of Bristol, and what to expect from the Round of 12.
Car owner Joe Gibbs, has seen how age eventually catches up with athletes, first as an NFL coach and now as a team owner, marvels what what Hamlin is doing.
“The discussion is always at what point does somebody start going downhill?” Gibbs said Sunday. “I think in Denny’s case, he’s got a real drive. To be quite truthful, he has a lot that he gets excited about. His podcast, 23XI. He’s in one meeting after another.
“ … He’s got a real drive I think to succeed. Yeah, it’s unusual for athletes because we’ve all witnessed it in this sport. At about that age, you know, they start to trail off. That’s not the case with him.”
Hamlin said he succeeds because of the work he puts ahead of each week even with a podcast, a family, his ownership duties at 23XI Racing and the team’s antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, which is scheduled for trial on Dec. 1.
Ryan Blaney said of Kyle Larson’s contact: “That’s one I’ve got to remember.”
After his Dover win in July, he was asked about what has changed with him through the years.
“NASCAR is an emotional game where you really kind of get caught up in (stuff) that doesn’t matter,” he said. “So I just try to look at it from a very straightforward point of view, numbers point of view. Find out where I’m bad, analyze what I’m doing, analyze the best, then figure out how I can go faster like them, then give that information to the team.
“It typically takes me a little bit longer to give the team the feedback that they’re needing because I like to analyze it, make sure it’s right, before I tell them. But it’s just changing my mentality on that process and how I’m doing it.”
Hamlin: ‘Get on the bandwagon, or get run over’
Denny Hamlin dedicates his Enjoy Illinois 300 win to his father and is “so happy” to secure No. 59 in his Cup Series career that sends him into the Round of 12.
It’s easy to forget that Hamlin’s success this season comes in his first season with Chris Gayle as his crew chief. Joe Gibbs Racing moved Chris Gabehart, who was Hamlin’s crew chief from 2019-24, to competition director after last season.
Hamlin sought to set the expectations early with Gayle.
“I’ve made it very clear to Chris Gayle, I do not want you treating me with kid gloves,” Hamlin said last November. “You need to tell me when I need to improve in something or there’s an area that I’m weak in as a driver, I need that feedback.
“As long as he’s comfortable with that, we’re going to have a successful relationship because I’m very self-aware and I need someone to hold me accountable to be the best out there.”
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won from the pole to earn his series-high fifth victory this season.
Gayle said that attitude has allowed him to push Hamlin this season.
“It’s more Denny allowing me to come in and to have a little different input than maybe what happened before,” Gayle said. “There’s a base there of things that happened. I feel like he’s given me a lot of flexibility to do that. There have been some places where he wasn’t as good, places where he’s really good.
“I didn’t need to change things at places he was good. I could have a little more liberty to come in and do some stuff at some other places that have shown some improvement. Sometimes it hasn’t. Iowa sticks out. We weren’t very good at Iowa. He’s given me enough leeway and doesn’t feel like he needs to take the rope on that and control what I do.
“I think that’s the good part for me. I’ve noticed that we may not agree on everything, but we can sit down afterwards and have a conversation about it. He’s very levelheaded. I’ll explain my point of view, his point of view. Maybe we’ll come to an agreement that we should to something different next time, maybe we wouldn’t.
“It’s good to have those kind of conversations and know that I’m not necessarily going to hear about it on a podcast or anything else. That’s just between he and I, we’re going to move on. He’s still going to be behind me the next week. It’s not going to change his effort level or his perception of what’s happening behind the scenes.”
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