Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Denny Hamlin Discusses Controversial Richmond Win

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Denny Hamlin Discusses Controversial Richmond Win · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Denny Martin said he felt like you jumped the restart.
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  I'm curious. NASCAR said that you didn't.
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  I'm curious like, what is the strategy and trying to go right
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  there? You know right when it's, right
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  when you can. Yeah, I mean I I went right at
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  it for sure. I I did that because I saw those
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  guys rolling to me. You know the the 22 was laying
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  back the 19 was rolling a couple miles an hour quicker than I
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  was. So I wasn't going to let them
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  have an advantage that that my team earned on pit Rd.
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  So certainly made sure I you know once my nose got there but
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  that took off right away. But still, you know, we were
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  side by side and down in the down the water in the Turn 1.
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  And Chris, I'm curious what you thought of how NASCAR handled
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  the the non competitive pit stops and the wet weather tires
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  situation. Did you feel like when they had
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  non competitive pit stops that it was?
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  Did you feel like if they had had competitive pit stops at
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  that time, that would've been an unsafe situation for your crew?
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  Well, if it tells you anything, when Serious interviewed me in
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  Victory Lane, I I I just realized we had won the first
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  ever Oval race that started in rain points race.
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  So honestly to me, hats off I I thought it all went pretty
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  seamlessly and exactly like they advertised.
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  They wanted to do it and it was nerve wracking for all of us
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  'cause we had never done it before.
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  And there's points and and a lot on the line and you've got to
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  watch the radar. And NASCAR's trying to
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  communicate to the teams, when are we going to go and how's all
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  this going to work? And they, they told us it would
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  be situational, whether it would be competitive pit stops or not.
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  So there's a lot of logistics that has to be covered there for
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  the teams and NASCAR. But honestly, I I thought it
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  went seamless. I thought it did exactly what
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  they wanted it to do. Jordan.
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  Bianchi, the athletic, This question is for both of you.
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  What did you think of the quality of racing in stages 2
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  and three? Because obviously stage one was,
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  you know, wet weather. It was tough.
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  I mean obviously we we're all just kind of running in a train
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  there. 123 it was just it was it was really hard to pass for
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  sure. We're all kind of running the
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  same speed and as soon as you get your tires hot then you just
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  can't go anywhere. You know, I didn't think it was
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  much different than what we had in the past.
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  Yeah, I I don't know, I, it wasn't overwhelming for sure.
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  It was definitely a track position race.
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  It seemed like there was about four to five guys that you put
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  them in the front, they were going to be hard to pass but
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  that's just you know kind of what we got and you know it was
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  up to us to just stay close and you know the team had an
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  opportunity to do something great there by, you know,
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  running me long, you know, we caught those guys but even with
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  10 lap tires just couldn't pass and we we got there really
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  quick. I was amazed how quick we got
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  there but then we just stalled out.
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  So it's tough, you know, because you know you kind of look at,
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  you know the difference in Bristol and here it's just a
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  dramatic tire fall off and wear. You know, I he sent me some
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  wares last night. Just, you know, the left side
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  tires just don't wear as much as they really need to to get big,
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  big fall off. And so we're all just running.
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  We're pretty much the same speed.
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  Even lap cars, if they really want to make it tough on you,
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  they can just kind of hold you up.
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  So it's it's it's difficult. So it takes all the parts of the
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  team to, you know, like a pit crew to to get you wins when
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  it's like that. Yeah, I mean, I would echo that
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  for me. I'm, I'm lost in a Richmond race
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  and when I say that there's just so much that goes into a
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  strategy of a Richmond race and and that's a lot of fun, but you
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  got to stay on top of it. I mean, it goes green.
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  The car is parked in your box in 40 laps or 55 laps depending
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  upon what you do. And you've got to mix that
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  nuance up throughout the race based on the situation and based
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  on how your car's running. And there's a lot to it.
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  So I was more so locked into what I needed to do to try to
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  gain us the advantage to leapfrog those last few cars, to
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  kind of evaluate it from from the perspective that you're
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  trying to get me to evaluate it. Honestly, I thought it was a
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  great race, but it's a great Richmond race so I don't know
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  how well that gets transmitted to everyone.
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  So following up on that, you guys are both short track guys,
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  but the history here of this race is what you described it
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  as. So knowing that, and this hasn't
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  been well received by fans necessarily, does this race,
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  does this track continue to deserve two races each year?
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  I, you know I think it's you know where else, where else you
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  going to go, right. I mean NASCAR owns it so they're
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  going to they're going to want to go to another NASCAR track
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  and if they have another another NASCAR track that that's already
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  got a date as well. So it's I mean I don't I don't
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  know what else you do but certainly I'm I'm it's not fair
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  because I'm biased and have grown up loving this this
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  racetrack. So I'm always going to vote for
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  it to have two races for sure and I thought today that nobody
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  really ran out too far. I I think we've seen some
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  Richmond races where some guys get way out there at times when
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  they when they kind of hit it and we were all just in a wad
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  there for 150 laps or so, just just a couple car links here and
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  there. So I mean, you know, from
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  NASCAR's point of view with, you know, they want us all just in
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  the picture on TV that it probably was a good race from
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  that standpoint. By the way, thanks for the pick,
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  all right. We're going to go to Matt Weaver
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  next. Matt Weaver sports Not for both
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  of you guys. Can you provide me some insight
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  into what makes your over the wall guys so week in and week
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  out consistently like clearly so much better than everyone
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  else's? Is there something in the
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  preparation or skill set? I mean, I yeah, I mean I think
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  just from my standpoint, you know, these guys have had time
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  to mesh. They've had a few years now
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  working together. You know that the whole pit crew
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  department is, is really went through a lot of changes over
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  the last couple years and it's starting to show fruit.
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  You know my team, you know I was looking at kind of the average
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  ages of all the pit crews and mine is definitely on the lower
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  end when you average all their ages up.
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  But for them to now be on top of their game and be young, it that
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  you know they've got AI mean they're they're they're right
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  there at the top already and you know who knows how far they can
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  go. So it's just there's a lot to it
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  when you can get some you know get people working together and
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  you know it's no different than my Chris's relationship.
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  Just over time, you get to understanding each other.
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  You know their next move and you know, and I think it certainly
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  with a pit crew with this got a lot of choreographed stuff that
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  they have to do and everyone's watching each other's toes and
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  not stepping on each other, you know, having that group working
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  together for so long, it's certain starting to show what it
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  what it can do. Chris.
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  Yeah, I'm the engineer, but he did a great job of quantifying
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  or of a lot of the quantifiable stuff, honestly, and I don't
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  want to diminish that. Joe Gibbs Racing took a path in
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  the Gen. 7 era that just honestly didn't work.
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  And at a sports top level, when you fall behind and there's
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  constant improvement being had by all the top teams, it's
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  difficult to catch up and there's a chance you won't.
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  So I can't brag on the pit department enough.
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  All the management at Joe Gibbs Racing and and and the guys, all
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  the athletes, not just my athletes for for buying in to to
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  the work and the effort that was going to have to be put forth to
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  catch up. But really what I want to speak
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  to is the intangibles because that's that's where magic
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  happens. It's it's people that believe
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  that they can do more than they can as individuals.
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  And my, my team, not just my pit crew, my team, they pull the
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  rope selflessly. They know they got each other's
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  backs. There's there's, you know, if
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  you have a bad play or a mistake, everybody's there to
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  pick them up. How can we help you be better?
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  What do you need? And that that's that's the
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  special part. You see it.
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  You see it in sports, all different types of sports.
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  And this group has all of the makings to put up the kind of
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  numbers that they're putting up. And I'm just it's just so fun to
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  watch them have fun and and again that's the you know 18
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  people I have on my roster and and just to watch the pit crew
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  get to win a race like that that's their that's their walk
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  off home run it doesn't get any better than that for a pit crew
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  to win it like that. So it's just a joy to watch
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  everybody work like this together and.
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  One more for Chris. The, the decision to run long
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  there at the end and I'm curious was was, was there an option to
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  even it's kind of a moot point now, but to split that final
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  stage which is longer in half or is there something that goes
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  into that that we don't even see?
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  Yeah, I just lost count of the laps.
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  No, it's it's, it's it's the love.
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  It's Richmond. That's what I love about it,
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  'cause you know, the the previous stop in that race, we
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  opened this the stint. I mean we were the first ones to
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  come but you know there's certain things that I look for
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  at this track that that are are very well known and understood
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  and you know I I was honestly caught off guard a little bit by
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  by when our competition pit for the second time.
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  But again, the the relationship and and the trust and I'm sure
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  when they peeled off and they did, part of him's thinking, oh,
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  here, here we go again. This guy's going to run me long,
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  put it on my back and carry me back to the front, you know, But
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  it's numbers, it's math. He, he he feeds off all that.
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  He understands the analytics that goes into it.
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  It doesn't mean that you're going to make the right decision
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  every time, but it really takes that buy in.
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  So it's a chess match out there and you can make one wrong move
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  that will hurt the next 60 laps. I thought for sure we we had it
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  to be honest with you as that last run was starting to unfold
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  and there was one very particular reason that we didn't
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  that he and I have talked briefly about.
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  That wasn't anything he did. It was it was some gamesmanship
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  by some damn smart racers in front of us.
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  The math should have worked out and it didn't but that's why
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  Richmond's awesome and we found another way to win it.
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  When that caution come out I knew he was right back in the
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  game. Thank.
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  You OK. Before we can continue, do we
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  have any additional questions for Chris?
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  All right, Chris, thanks so much for joining us and
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  congratulations on the win. OK, we will continue on over
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  here. Chris Powell.
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  Yeah, Chris Powell, Couch Coach Live.
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  Congratulations, Danny, on the race on winning today.
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  You've been going to the track since you were five years old.
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  This is your fifth win here at the Raceway.
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  Just talk about the significance of winning at your home track
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  today and it being Easter Sunday.
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  Yeah, it's special. I mean, I my kids has been seems
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  like a long time since they've been able to enjoy Victory Lane.
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  So you know having friends and family all here certainly is it
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  means a lot. We did a little special thing
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  with Toyota yesterday up in the grandstands, sat in the seats
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  that my mom still have. She's had the season tickets for
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  I guess about 30 years now. So same same area and just sit
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  in those seats. You know I I just, I see the
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  highlights from the 90s and the 2000s when I was watching races
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  at this track and you know really appreciated kind of the
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  techniques of what some of the great drivers did around here.
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  And now that I get to do it myself, it's just really fun to
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  to be part of it and be on the other side of the fence, you
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  know 20 some years later. So it means a lot to me for
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  sure. I mean add on top of that you
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  got, you know it's a Toyota owners race and so Toyota was
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  dominating Martin Martin was going to be the one that takes
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  it if it goes green and then we were able to do it because of
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  that caution. So it's it's special.
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  Each one of the winds are special in certain ways, but any
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  one of the Richmond winds always has got a special place.
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  Hello, Steven Sykes and Lab and Global Media.
• 12:59
  Two quick questions. One about 85 laps out there to
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  go, You were third place in like 1 1/2 seconds apart.
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  What was the decisions that went into make things happen to get
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  you around towards the front? Yeah, it was.
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  Chris made it obviously a strategic decision there to to
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  pit later than what the other two you know they peeled off and
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  when he didn't say anything to me for one lap I knew what my
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  job was at that point and that was to be machine and just run
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  the fastest laps I could on those old tires to maximize lap
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  time to to then give us a shot to have better tires and run
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  those guys down once we came back out.
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  So, you know, he again, he talked about it.
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  It's kind of a math equation on what the right time to pit is.
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  And he felt like the the decision they made was a little
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  bit too early. So he stuck to his game plan.
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  And you know, we were going to net out the same position
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  anyway, had that caution not came, but it certainly I thought
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  was the the right call. And we just kept ourselves close
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  enough in the game to when you have those opportunities where
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  your pit crew can win you the race, it it happens.
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  And you know, I spent the last three years, you know, counting
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  on both hands and feet. You know, races that, you know,
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  sometimes the pick crew didn't didn't necessarily help us that
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  day and we probably lost races because of it.
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  But, you know, we're starting to get those back now because we've
• 14:25
  got a team that's really, really strong and they they deserve it.
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  And you know, I'm just lucky to be part of their team today
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  because that's what got me the win.
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  The second question, Sir is few days ago you had some concerns
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  and comments regarding the how NASCAR implements their rules
• 14:41
  and the points and the penalties.
• 14:43
  Do you feel after a few days now and do you have any additional
• 14:46
  thoughts or rethink some of those words and do you feel any
• 14:48
  of that played into the decisions today and how they
• 14:51
  went about the rules and penalties for the rain?
• 14:55
  Yeah, it was, it was ground breaking for sure.
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  It certainly made me nervous because I mentioned it on Fox
• 15:02
  early on in the pre race that you know, I feel like I'm
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  probably part of the 30% of the field that thinks that they can
• 15:07
  win in the dry. Whenever you put the wet out
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  there, you're going to have the other 70% that are thinking,
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  well, this is my opportunity to go jump out there and get a lead
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  or or put myself in a chance to win.
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  So I'm probably going to be a little more timid in the wet
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  because I know that this thing's eventually going to go dry and I
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  just need to make sure I'm still on the racetrack when it comes
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  to being dry. So yeah, it was crazy that it
• 15:33
  all turned out the way it did, but I was able to hold my track
• 15:35
  position pretty good and I thought that they executed it as
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  good as they could. You know, it wasn't raining
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  outside. They made sure that the track
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  was just straight damp and not, you know, bunch of spray coming
• 15:44
  off the tires. So I thought it was executed
• 15:47
  exactly how they planned. OK, go to.
• 15:51
  That Danny back here, Jordan Moner on ESPN Richmond.
• 15:56
  Danny you mentioned Southside Speedway.
• 15:58
  I I know in recent months there's been a a huge push to
• 16:01
  bring Southside back. There's been a lot of
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  development with the Surf Park in off Hull Street and Poe White
• 16:08
  Parkway and that sort of thing. Have you sort of, you know, have
• 16:13
  you considered getting involved to to bring Southside back and
• 16:18
  have you, you know, heard anything from local fans in
• 16:23
  terms of like, hey, you know, you mentioned being a being
• 16:26
  remembered as a hero, you know, hey, you're our Chesterfield
• 16:29
  hero, you know, Have you, have you heard for that from fans to
• 16:33
  get involved? Yeah, I mean I'd like to for
• 16:35
  sure. You know I would love to be a
• 16:38
  part of it. I think those are bigger
• 16:41
  conversations for the state and the county as as to how much
• 16:46
  they're willing to invest because it needs, it needs some
• 16:49
  up fitting, you know it needs a few $1,000,000 worth of upgrades
• 16:54
  and to to get it back on track for and and back on par for
• 16:57
  other short tracks. So I'd love to be a part of
• 17:00
  that. I'd be happy to run it for the
• 17:02
  city or the OR the OR the county.
• 17:05
  But you know as far as investing my own money and it's it's just
• 17:08
  very, very hard unless you're going to build a multi use
• 17:11
  facility there which is what needs to be done.
• 17:14
  You can't just rely on running one night a week and in that
• 17:17
  place is being able to survive. You got to have go karts there,
• 17:20
  you got to have concerts there, you got to have all kinds of
• 17:22
  different stuff that people can do and and certainly that area
• 17:26
  has grown up tremendously over over the last decade or two.
• 17:29
  So it's in a prime location. It's just a matter whether the
• 17:34
  the city or state wants to put funding behind it to to keep it
• 17:37
  going. Davey Siegel with SiriusXM
• 17:42
  NASCAR Radio To the point of what you said about your pit
• 17:44
  crew and given with the Gen. 7 era, everything on track is
• 17:49
  closer, everything on pit Rd. is closer.
• 17:52
  How satisfying is it for you to know that literally the numbers
• 17:56
  bear it out? Whenever you come down, you're
• 17:59
  probably not going to lose anything.
• 18:00
  You're likely going to gain something.
• 18:01
  And in a situation like tonight, to your point, they kind of won
• 18:05
  you this thing. Yeah, and they did.
• 18:07
  Tonight was them for sure. And I I feel like I just went
• 18:13
  through a A2 year period and you know and 2020, maybe 2021 or
• 18:20
  every time I came down Pit Rd. I was terrified.
• 18:22
  I was like please just only lose one spot.
• 18:24
  Like you know it was it was bad for a really long time And so
• 18:28
  it's just finally has turned the page and we're we're going the
• 18:31
  other way now. So you know these guys have been
• 18:34
  together for I think 3 consecutive years now.
• 18:38
  They were on Martin's team, you know a few years ago, but they
• 18:41
  were young and they were making a lot of mistakes that first
• 18:43
  year and you know the the pickers and the drivers got
• 18:46
  together and they they wanted to make changes.
• 18:48
  And so I ended up with those guys at really the right time,
• 18:51
  right when they were starting to all click on our cylinder.
• 18:54
  So you know, I was certainly torn because you know, I, it
• 18:58
  looked like Martin was going to win.
• 19:00
  When the caution came out. I wasn't crazy overjoyed because
• 19:04
  I I always think about all the bad times on Pit Rd.
• 19:08
  And I'm thinking, well man, I just had a good finish and now
• 19:11
  we're, you know, we, we have an opportunity to go backwards.
• 19:14
  But I knew that if I maximize my job on Pit Rd., and there's so
• 19:18
  many, there's so many metrics that go into being good.
• 19:21
  Yellow line to yellow line on Pit Rd., the Pit Crew is
• 19:24
  definitely a big part of it. But me as a driver, doing my job
• 19:28
  with my pit Rd. speed, how I enter the box, how I exit the
• 19:32
  box, all that really mattered. And I knew about halfway through
• 19:35
  the stop when they dropped the Jack on the right side in about
• 19:38
  3 1/2 seconds, I'm like, oh boy, this is going to be a fast one.
• 19:41
  So I knew it was going to be really close and it and I knew
• 19:44
  at that point just don't stall the car.
• 19:47
  That was the only that would have been the most embarrassing
• 19:49
  thing that I possibly could have done is take the wind from them
• 19:52
  if I made that kind of mistake. But then, you know, we still got
• 19:55
  to race it out on the green white checkered.
• 19:56
  So this is certainly the new age NASCAR of how you can win races
• 20:03
  because it is so equal on the racetrack that you know, really
• 20:06
  the pit crews, the ones that really make a difference when
• 20:09
  everyone's running the same speed.
• 20:11
  Unrelated, but related to your crew chief, did you pick Purdue
• 20:14
  in your Final Four for him? I.
• 20:15
  Have him winning. For him.
• 20:17
  No, I not, because I am. I just, I like them.
• 20:20
  So I only filled out one bracket and it was for 2311 employees
• 20:24
  and so I I have pretty winning. They're not going to be a Ucom,
• 20:27
  but it's at least a shot, a shot all.
• 20:31
  Right. We're going to take two more
• 20:32
  questions for Denny. We're going to go to Zach and
• 20:34
  we're going to finish with Bob. Second tan's ready kicking
• 20:36
  thetires.net. I know you went through the the
• 20:39
  tunnel on the front straight away the other day you saw
• 20:42
  something that a fan left. Are you going to take that way
• 20:44
  going out and see what they left this time?
• 20:46
  No I don't think so. I I was just happened to do I
• 20:50
  was doing something on the front stretch and so it was Jared
• 20:54
  reminded me that the that picture that that he showed me
• 20:58
  the tunnel is right there. So I wanted to go see it and I I
• 21:01
  thought it was just interesting to see everyone's, you know,
• 21:03
  saying blank was here. There was quite other slogans
• 21:07
  that you can't really say that were on the wall but you know
• 21:11
  it's fans just enjoying you know, certain same reason they
• 21:14
  ride all over the walls and the start finish line, right.
• 21:17
  It's it's their way to leave a mark on on on the at the
• 21:19
  racetrack. So I I enjoyed it.
• 21:22
  And you know, to have kind of your own, you know, picture in
• 21:25
  the tunnel and you're in Victory Lane, it certainly is special,
• 21:28
  especially at this track. Bob Parkers, Fox Sports.
• 21:34
  You know, they probably with the fact that there wasn't much rain
• 21:38
  after where they probably could have tried the whole track.
• 21:40
  You know maybe start twenty 30-40 minutes later not have a
• 21:46
  long caution. But I'm curious from a driver
• 21:48
  standpoint and your owner had, I mean, is it OK that, you know,
• 21:52
  hey, get cars on the track, people are watching at home,
• 21:55
  people are. Here I think they wanted it to
• 21:57
  be wet. I mean I say that because there
• 21:59
  was no jet dryers out there. They had the option to use jet
• 22:02
  dryers and they did not. So I think that they wanted to
• 22:06
  have wanted to try this out. This is probably the right track
• 22:10
  to do it. You know I'm I'm glad we didn't
• 22:13
  all just pile up in the corner. Everyone was kind of patient the
• 22:15
  first few laps. So I think this, I think it
• 22:18
  played out just how they wanted it to and then you're.
• 22:20
  OK. I I was OK with it.
• 22:22
  Yeah. I think, you know the people
• 22:24
  immediately will ask, well surely you can do this
• 22:27
  everywhere. You cannot do it any track that
• 22:29
  we run faster than this one. So it was it was just
• 22:34
  uncomfortable enough entering turn one at those speeds with it
• 22:39
  being wet. So it it was it was executed
• 22:42
  just as how they wanted. And I thought the drivers did it
• 22:44
  perfectly.