Question: You’re the reigning champ of the Ford 400, 36 races ago. A lot of changes within the sport. Is there comfort knowing you won last time here or does that time and all those changes make it concerning? How do we not mess this thing up from a winning car last year?
DENNY HAMLIN: Well, things have changed so much in our sport since then. Obviously the spoiler change has changed the dynamics of the setups. I feel like the cars are much better than what they were last year. Everyone’s car is. The speeds at every racetrack really are higher this year than what they’ve been in years past.
All these teams continue to get smarter. We’re not going to fool ourselves into thinking we can just put last year car’s setup on it. It’s going to take work, without a doubt. We usually qualify mid 30s at Homestead. But we always seem to race well. We hope not to get ourselves in that hole this time around. You can continue to stay focused and get everything we can.
Question: How important is it from your perspectives that the three of you are going to decide the championship?
DENNY HAMLIN: I would have said the exact same thing. I mean, there’s three drivers and teams right here that have won roughly half the races this year. I don’t think how you could put it in any better situation. This is the same standings I think we started the Chase, if I’m not mistaken. So through all of that, everything that can happen in the course of nine races, the three teams have continued just to step up.
For me, I’m just really lucky to be a part of it. As a race fan, this is the best that you could ask for. The race fan in me is excited to see the three best for the entire 2010 season are going to decide it in one race.
Question: Denny, we found out earlier this year you consider Kevin your closest friend in the garage. Is it ironic the three of you sit up there together with one race to go, winner take all, the ties that you three share for one reason or another?
DENNY HAMLIN: I don’t know. This has been one of the most awkward 30 minutes I’ve been through, to be honest with you.
But, you know, my relationship with Kevin really probably started about a year ago. He’s got that kart racetrack at his house. I proceeded to spend a bunch of money and take a go-kart there and race it a little bit. Obviously got to know him a little bit more through that. That’s where that’s came from.Really, you know, Jimmie, our relationship has been professional for the most part. Obviously I think there’s a lot of respect between all of us. We understand that each have the same goal and we’re all going for it. That’s where the intensity that you see, whether it be back and forth comments, it comes from. When you have three drivers that tight, anyone is searching for an edge anywhere they can. I think that’s where you see the competitive nature of us.
Question: Denny, I want to ask you a little bit about a year ago when you won this race, you climbed out of the car in Victory Lane, you said you felt you learned what it took to win a championship. Having not yet won one, what is it that you felt like you had learned? Was it something that was self-taught through trial and error or something you learned from watching Jimmie win four in a row?
DENNY HAMLIN: Well, I think most of it was just the last five races of last year we really came on strong. We had a different mindset. It was crazy how our mindset got pushed back after we had two blown engines in a row, then a wreck, all in sequence. We went from having the highest to starting the Chase in 2009, thinking we were going out there and competing for a championship, to going out there and staying within our means the last five races, being very successful doing that.
I feel that was our first win at a mile-and-a-half racetrack at Homestead last year. It was just a turning point, I guess. Just figuring out what it took to win and close was the biggest thing. So since then, it’s been good.
Question: At one point Jimmie talked about being talked off the ledge, asking his spotter to sing to him and stuff like that. When it’s so close, not the mental game of mentally gaming each other, but what part of it and what do you deal with what you’re going to have to do in the racecar during all of this with all of this going on, how you plan to deal with that?
DENNY HAMLIN: Well, inside the car, I mean, it’s really all business. For me, I’m a lot the same way. The busier I am outside the racecar, probably the more focused I’d be inside the racecar on a race weekend.
I try not to give myself too much time with myself. You know what I mean (smiling)? I’ll just stop there.
Question: Denny, last year you were comparing your style to Kyle, especially on being aggressive and on restarts. You said throughout our careers he’s always going to be a guy that will have more race wins than I will. If I am going to win a championship, I need to run top five every week. I don’t need to win every week. If that’s the case, how do you explain how you’ve had so many wins this year, specifically more than Kyle?
DENNY HAMLIN: I think we’ve been fortunate to get some of those wins, to be honest with you, whether it be cautions coming at the right time. We’ve had other wins that we felt like we could slip away. Maybe it was last week. Maybe it was at Atlanta where our car was good.
I don’t know. At that point I never seen the speed in us of what we’ve had this year at that point that I did that interview last year. Once again, I feel like I found another gear somewhere middle to end of last season, whether it’s in my cars or in myself. Ever since then, we’ve had the speed that Kyle’s had.
On restarts, I still haven’t found it. We’ve gotten much closer. I think it’s just my mentality and my probably conservative approach on the racetrack most times that I say I probably will never win as many races as him because he puts himself out there at risk a little bit more than I what I do.
Sometimes it will pay off and sometimes you’ll finish 30th because of it. I’m just more the consistently top-five guy. That’s pretty much been my MO for my whole career.
Question: Denny, can you talk about what you did this week as far as to handle the pressure? Sunday night, did you do anything to release the frustration of the day? Assume you can’t play basketball, so how have you been dealing with all the pressure?
DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I mean, it was frustrating for a little while. I got the bloody knuckles to prove it. It’s just part of it. It’s part of our sport. We’re all going to have emotions on those kind of days.
For me, when I said I was leaving Phoenix, I left Phoenix, it was over with, it was. It was completely over with. The only time I relived it is when I got home, I do my normal thing, always rewatch the races no matter what to learn as much as I can. Once that I was done, turned the TV off, it was done. I thought about it a little bit before I went to bed. When I woke up the next day, just kept myself busy.
For me, I got a lot of encouraging text messages talking about, This is a great situation you’re in. If you said going into the Chase you’d have the lead, would you take it? I would have definitely said yes.
We’ve all had opportunities, all three of us had opportunities to break away from the pack at times. It seems like the other two constantly just make that tough and continue to put themselves in position to gain ground. It’s fitting that we’re in the situation, all three of us, with this one race to go.
Question: This particular race, going into the last race at Homestead, I think about the way this race starts, the way the practice sessions go and everything. When practice starts, everybody kind of runs on the bottom and middle of the track. Qualifying you run on the bottom and middle. Every single time when this race starts, I think Darlington. When the race is over in Darlington, we see three-quarters of the field with the right side of the cars tore off, pretty well destroyed. This particular race, going into it, looks like those corners have the possibility to be a little bit treacherous. Is that on your mind going into this race? You got good pit stops, good drivers, that’s in your hands. Is that something that bugs you?
DENNY HAMLIN: I agree. There’s a lot of room at this racetrack. That’s what’s going to be so fun about it. You’ll see us two, three, four-wide maybe at times on this racetrack because you can race from the bottom to the top and change your car.
Like I say, I’ve been successful at top and at the bottom. I think it depends on where you’re at on the racetrack at any given time. The top is a little more risky because it leaves your room for error a whole lot less. You have to be a little bit more careful. When you hit it right, the reward is worth it.
Question: As we saw in the video, guys aren’t afraid to say what you think about each other. Knowing that, each one of you, can you tell me what irks you about the other two drivers.
DENNY HAMLIN: I was told in these situations to deflect, so I then turn to Kevin (smiling).
Question: How important are pit stops and pit strategies going to be for this race? We saw from last weekend Kevin had a lug nut issue which wound up turning good in his favor. Denny, you came in and took some tires and fuel, took away from your chance to win. Jimmie stayed out and kept his position and points. How important is it going to be to keep those pit stops perfect and have the right strategy to be at the top when we come to the end of the race?
DENNY HAMLIN: It won’t be. I don’t think any of us know how important it’s going to be. It just really depends on when cautions fly. Sometimes, I mean, like Martinsville and Texas, the two races where we probably didn’t have our best pit stops, we won those races. But the cautions flew to where it really didn’t hurt us too bad.
It really depends on when that last caution flies. Really I think it’s going to depend, too, on how much tire drop-off is. If we have a huge drop-off, you’ll see us pitting quite a bit more often. If it doesn’t, you’ll probably see a lot of getting within that last fuel window and staying out. I don’t think any of us really know that yet.
Question: Denny, if you take the ‘boys have at it’ mentality, whatever it takes to win the championship on Sunday, you’re sitting there with a three-car team, your teammate is more like a Formula One teammate, not a NASCAR teammate.
DENNY HAMLIN: Which one?
Question: Kyle, to start with. They have alliances with other organizations in the garage. What is your strategy going to be as far as staying away from everybody else and not getting caught up in the riffraff?
DENNY HAMLIN: I don’t know. I mean, yeah, as far as the teammate side of it, we have Toyotas, but there’s really not a whole lot of connection there. They have like Stewart Haas, the engine program. Probably more teammates connected between them.
But really I think it’s the last race. Everyone’s going to go out there and try to win. That’s the most important thing. Really I think all the drivers pretty much respect the fact that, Let the three drivers settle it.
For me, I’m really not worried about that part of it too much. Really just continue to figure out what I can do to be faster.
Question: Denny, your owner Joe Gibbs could tell you a whole bunch about gut checks. What has been the gut checks for you this season? Was it the days after your knee surgery?
DENNY HAMLIN: I don’t know. I mean, there’s been tons of different things that I’ve learned during the course of this season. Yeah, I mean, that was a significant part of our season, for sure. It was most of the summer that we had to deal with that.
But that’s why we set out to do that during that time, is that by this time of the year, when the championship’s on the line, if we hopefully had a shot at it, it was not going to be an issue, wasn’t going to sidetrack us. For me it’s tough to say what situation really was a gut check. Maybe it was last week. We don’t know. It’s just now we have to respond wherever something negative does happen. I feel like we have done a good job of that, whenever we’ve had to face adversity, pressure. Jimmie talked about earlier, this pressure like I’ve never seen before, I had to fight for my job. That was way more pressure than this right here. I had to battle with a couple different drivers to get that 11 car, knowing I only had three starts to do it. That was serious pressure. This right here is fun, what I set out to do when I was a kid.
Question: You talked a little bit earlier about the approach you will have racing each other. The odds are that you probably will be. Is there a line? What is the line that you’ll go up to but maybe not cross or would cross if it came down to the final laps for the championship?
DENNY HAMLIN: I can’t really say that I would change my driving style, championship on the line or not. Of course, you’re going to be more aggressive in situations. But for me to say I would wreck a guy or turn a guy for a championship, I don’t know how high I could hold that trophy.
Hopefully I’ll have many other years to do it the right way. If someone had to put the spotlight on me and say, You have to do this or not. I’m not going to change the way I drive. I was raised in driving one way. I’ve always had to fix my equipment when I raced late models. I’m not going to sell out. I’ll say that.
All of us really don’t think about last-lap situations I don’t think. I think it’s more about, How can I just whip ‘em outright? That’s what all these other guys are thinking so they don’t have to put themselves in that situation.
Question: Denny, a follow-up on something you said earlier. What is awkward about this experience right now? What’s awkward?
DENNY HAMLIN: Oh, just all the shit talking that’s going on, then we’re like two feet away (laughter). Other than that, I mean, it’s good now. I’m okay.
Question: When Jimmie said, I’ve got nothing to lose and turns to you and said, This guy does, what ran through your mind?
DENNY HAMLIN: I don’t have the crown on my head.
Question: Why are you going to win the championship?
DENNY HAMLIN: For me, the one thing you know, anything can decide the championship. It could be wrecks. It could be luck. It could be strategy. Any of those things. The one thing that’s tough to get is speed. I feel like we have good speed.
So I like that part of it being on our side. Yeah, we probably realistically will have the worst fuel mileage of these other two guys. But, you know, we’ll have to take the speed. Hopefully things work out for us. If they don’t, we’ll work on our whole program next year.
For me, I’m in a good situation because, like I said before, if I go out there and I do what we’ve done all year and perform really well, then it’s up to them to go out there and better us. We don’t have to beat one of these guys by a certain amount of positions, we just have to stay ahead and that’s it.
That’s not going to be an easy feat. We know that. But we have the speed, I feel like, to do that.
Question: A lot of people don’t realize how physically demanding your sport is. Could you each maybe give an example of how demanding it is and what perhaps you’ve added or changed in your fitness regimen to deal with those demands.
DENNY HAMLIN: I’d agree for sure. I came into this sport 40 pounds heavier than what I am right now. I realized real quick that fitness is a major part of this sport. Not necessarily for going out there and being fast, but it’s about being focused at the end of these races. For me, the better physically fit you are, the more hydrated you are, the more you make better decisions when your body’s getting fatigued.
So for myself, I work out just to kind of get my mind off things and relieve stress. It’s been good for me.
Question: It’s great that NASCAR listens to its fans. What changes do you think the NASCAR world needs, if anything?
DENNY HAMLIN: I would agree. I don’t disagree there. I think changing up racetracks is good. I know it’s going to be tough because of the weather. We can’t go to Michigan in November. That part of it’s going to be tough.
But, yeah, I definitely would like to change racetracks, switch it up a little bit. Obviously, like I said, maybe throw a road course in there. It’s part of our regular season, why shouldn’t it part of the our regular championship?
Talladega 10 laps.
Question: I want to bring up something that seems to always be sensitive with a lot of fans, and that’s team tactics, not talking about somebody leading for five points early in the race. I want to give you a specific scenario, because we’ve seen it in Formula One, and in drag racing. We get to the final laps. One of your teammates is up front. You hear over the radio someone, team owner, crew chief, telling that teammate to move over because it means the difference with you winning the championship or not. What is your personal position?
DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time really. I can remember giving up in 2005 a couple spots. I think at Texas, my second race, Tony was actually behind me. I gave up that position because it meant five more points. It happens here and there in different places. You don’t always see it. But it does happen. I think for all these teams, the bigger goal is win it for the organization. That’s why you probably see the crew swaps and stuff. They’re doing what’s best to win for their organization because they know if one of those teams wins that championship, it’s going to benefit all of them.
There’s a bigger picture than each individual driver winning a championship.
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