Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Denny Hamlin Wins Crazy Bristol Race!

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Denny Hamlin Wins Crazy Bristol Race! · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Yeah, it was challenging but it was, it was a different kind of
• 0:02
  challenge for sure. Certainly something that we've
• 0:05
  not had to do for a very long time in managing tires.
• 0:08
  So you know lesson learned early on I had I kind of ran you know,
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  certain pace, certain ran a certain line and wore my tires
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  out and then for that point on made some adjustments internally
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  and he made some adjustments to the car that allowed me to just
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  manage it from the that that point on.
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  So once it got into that tire management type of race,
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  certainly my history in in late models where you had to do that,
• 0:32
  you know big time it certainly paid off.
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  Jordan, Bianca. The Athletic ask you both Was
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  this something you'd like to see on a on a regular basis, on a,
• 0:41
  you know, every short track race?
• 0:43
  I mean, I listen, I'm it's certainly most of the answers
• 0:46
  you're going to get from me today, it's going to be from a
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  bias standpoint, right? We won the race.
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  There's probably a, you know, handful that hated what
• 0:54
  happened. But I think if you change
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  nothing, right, if you change absolutely nothing with the
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  tire, nothing with the resin, and we came back next week, many
• 1:02
  teams would make big adjustments with their cars to help with
• 1:06
  tire wear and drivers would make adjustments so it would
• 1:09
  automatically get better no matter what.
• 1:13
  Do we want them wearing out in 4050 laps?
• 1:15
  No, that's that's probably a little bit on the low end for
• 1:19
  sure. But certainly this is what
• 1:22
  happens when you get tired where it is comers and goers and I
• 1:26
  guarantee you have they surely you guys at NASCAR have sent out
• 1:30
  a stat pack of all the passes that happened today.
• 1:33
  So yeah, it has to be. But I mean there was just, you
• 1:37
  know, there was times where I was leading and I'm ties just
• 1:40
  pressure me and I'm like, no, it's not time.
• 1:43
  It's go ahead. And that's how it used to be.
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  It really used to be that way. So it was fun from my standpoint
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  because obviously I had a good car that that helped me, you
• 1:53
  know, do what I needed to do. My answer to that is the same
• 1:57
  one I kind of alluded to earlier.
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  And honestly, while it's hard on us, yes, it's supposed to be
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  hard. You're supposed to see these
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  guys struggle. You're supposed to see the 25th
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  place car look like a mess and the team's trying to figure out
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  how to rebound and rally and help him understand where this
• 2:19
  run you know management didn't work or the leaders running too
• 2:22
  hard. This run and tell your driver,
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  hey, you weren't in the lead this time but this happened and
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  let him adjust inside. It's supposed to be hard.
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  This is not supposed to look easy.
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  So I I I think this is what you see when you make it hard.
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  This is the first time the driver played a huge role in a
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  long, long time, long time, you know.
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  But it's a different philosophy from what we're, you know, we're
• 2:47
  used to, which is everyone's just kind of on the gas all the
• 2:50
  time running the bottom. That's the shortest way around
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  and but now it's technique was a huge deal to today.
• 2:56
  Both of you've already mentioned this, Harkins.
• 2:59
  Back to the late bottle background that both of you had.
• 3:02
  I mean, without giving away trade secrets, what kinds of
• 3:05
  things through the course of that race are you leaning on
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  relying on pulling from your brain in order to make that
• 3:13
  successful at the end of the race?
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  Well, he, he did a great job of just updating me with every pit
• 3:18
  stop. What what was going on with the
• 3:21
  tires you know hey this was this amount of run many laps this
• 3:26
  tire was corded. That tire was corded and just
• 3:29
  letting me make adjustments from there that's really what he did
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  great and and it allowed me to do my job at high level when you
• 3:37
  have that kind of information and certainly he just kept
• 3:41
  making the car better as well. So it's it's certainly it's it's
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  not all driver do you have to have a car that is easy on the
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  tires as well and they just did a great job you know building me
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  that today. Yeah, it's just, it's just,
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  again, it's so far off the playbook from what anyone was
• 3:58
  expecting when the lift gates opened Saturday morning.
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  No one. There's not a single driver,
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  single crew chief, single engineer that planned on this.
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  And you calibrate your entire world around a certain set of
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  parameters for Bristol. And it was pretty clear right
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  after practice and again pretty clear 80 laps into the race that
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  all that had to go out the window.
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  And now it's instincts because a lot of your prep work and tools
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  and planning for the most part are invalid now.
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  It's still a race car you know. It's still got an engine and a
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  driver and four, four black things on it for a while until
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  that, until they turn Gray. But, but it's way different.
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  So you got to go off instinct every part of the race.
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  And you know that's everybody that's the that's the tire guy
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  that's the that's the car chief that's the mechanics helping.
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  I mean we we went through so many tires and every 40 laps
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  those guys are having to get data off the tires get the
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  information to me so I can get it to him.
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  Get the next set ready to go. Oh, Goodyear released another
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  set. We got to go get it.
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  We've got to match that set up and when we don't just bolt them
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  on the car, there's a lot that goes into what did we get how's
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  it going to match up with the tires that we had.
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  When do we want to use those? When do you want to use your
• 5:09
  qualifying scuffs? I mean it.
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  It's had at all and and that really makes it fun.
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  Danny, would you call a race like this kind of a chess match
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  where you're almost having to? I don't want to compare it
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  totally to a road course, but where you're kind of having to
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  plan a couple moves ahead and know where you want to be at the
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  end rather than just where you are in the moment.
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  Yeah, for sure. I mean there was mainly, it was
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  when I was controlling the race and leading.
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  I just had a certain pace, you know, looking at the dash.
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  Here's the lap time. He would keep me updated that
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  hat you're running a little quicker this time.
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  So he did a good job of kind of reeling me back in and it was a
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  chess match. I mean, there was a time where
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  me and the five were up front and I was on the outside and he
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  was leading and I could tell he was just really going slow.
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  And I told the spotter, hey, if you we want to just run side by
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  side, I'm good with that. Let's just block both lanes and
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  back up the whole field because it was a chess match.
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  But you know, I didn't realize till later that well, the line I
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  was running was just killing my tires.
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  So it was just you learned on the fly and you just made
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  adjustments and each each run we made, we just got a little
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  better. Go to Dustin and the.
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  Bob. Dustin Long, NBC Sports Christy
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  Wright, you mentioned about we have to learn from this.
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  When you when you said earlier, are you talking about the sport
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  or the team and and if So what, what needs to be learned from?
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  The lessons from something like, in my opinion the the sport
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  needs to learn from this again. I I've been saying for a while
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  from, you know, my little microphone when anyone ask is
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  that we got to stop talking badly about Goodyear in these
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  situations. This is not bad.
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  Goodyear can make a million mile tire that I that I have on my on
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  my car when I get to the airport and drive home.
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  It's fantastic. I never have any trouble with
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  it. This is supposed to be sport.
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  It's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to force these
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  guys to make decisions in the car.
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  Do I go now? Do I not the crew chiefs to make
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  decisions on how they treat the tire with their setups?
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  How long do you want to run this, this stamp?
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  Because you can't just run the fuel tank out and the tire not
• 7:20
  blow. It might blow on you.
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  I mean that last green flag stop and we called him in.
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  It's AI can't tell you how stressful it was.
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  If NASCAR throws the caution when I'm on pit Rd.
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  I'm in a lot of trouble and he knows it.
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  But he's telling me, hey, this tire is about to blow out and
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  finally you look up and you're thinking strategy.
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  The whole time I've I've ran this many green flag laps.
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  There'll be this many to the end, who's pit and who's not.
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  And there's, I mean, we look like a jalopy out there compared
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  to cars with tires. So you're trying to manage all
• 7:50
  that. Now I'm telling you, we took
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  that set of tires off that right rear tire wasn't going to make
• 7:54
  it two more laps and we had a flat tire like so many others.
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  But what I want everyone to understand is that's not bad.
• 8:01
  Yeah, don't overreact. It's not bad.
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  It's OK Quit beating Goodyear up over things like this.
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  They're supposed to be a part of the sport and make it hard on us
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  and and I think that's the narrative we got to start
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  talking about. I I think when he talks about
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  what to learn, certainly this is not.
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  There's something that was different, whether it be the
• 8:21
  resin or the tire or something that was different from the last
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  time we raced here, although it was not supposed to be.
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  I think the resin was supposed to be different.
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  So whatever happened in the in the mixture department maybe at
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  Goodyear, that's something certainly that could be used,
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  maybe not to that extent, but it could be used.
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  I mean, I think they have to figure out what what in their
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  process changed from this batch of tires versus last and just
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  cut it back. A little bit and that's that's
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  very well said. What you don't want it to be is
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  an accident and I think Goodyear everyone will tell you no, we
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  didn't expect this. So you you want to learn from it
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  in the sense that how did we do this and how can we monitor that
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  and change it and make it something a little less extreme
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  and then apply it to other race tracks.
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  I mean, there's a lot to be learned in it.
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  Denny, for somebody who's won 52 races and you've won here before
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  and you've won some big events and in your career, but when you
• 9:21
  talk about having an impact in a way that you hadn't had in a
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  long time, what does this win mean for you personally?
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  Way more proud. I just, I know I had such a huge
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  role in the result. You know, I can't.
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  If the car was not good, I wasn't going to win.
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  But I feel like I played a huge factor in the result.
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  So it's it's it's really a proud one for me.
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  Certainly one of the more proud ones I've had in my career.
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  No question Mr., Bob. Bob Parker is Fox Sports.
• 10:01
  You know, Blaney compared it to Daytona, where you're working on
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  fuel mileage. Other people, we're calling it S
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  shows. I'm curious like if you had, if
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  you had that tire had blown as he's as you were telling that
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  was about to blow, would you just, would you be bitter?
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  Would you have a different feeling?
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  I I would have said we should put sooner I mean I I the good
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  news I mean is is I I felt I blew one all the way out earlier
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  in the race so I knew what the timetable was of OK when I feel
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  this I've got couple more laps and then this thing's not going
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  to hold air anymore So he did a really good job calling me in
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  when I said red flag we're we're in big trouble here like because
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  it happened so quick. And the other thing everyone's
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  got to understand is during that time frame, we're pitted right
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  off of Turn 4. It's loud and Lambert's driving
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  him through traffic and you know we're talking with engineers and
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  pit crew and like there is so many voices in my head in that
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  instance that like him telling me and me managing to actually
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  even hear it, let alone process what he said, how he said it,
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  how urgent is it is hard So you know listen we had we had a
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  great car and and then he drove a great race and you know how
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  would I feel if we run 10th or 15th.
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  I can tell you one thing I would have said man that was hard and
• 11:29
  that's good. I don't.
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  I don't want to hear. It's supposed to be hard.
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  Yeah, it's not supposed to be easy for all of us to manage.
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  And you know who airblocked the best.
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  And I want it to be hard. And that was hard.
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  And and for also for Denny if if maybe they can find tire that
• 11:49
  maybe last just a little bit longer than would that end the
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  horsepower discussion? Yeah, we didn't need any more
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  horse tire today. I watched plenty of throttle
• 12:00
  traces. He barely used all of it for a
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  lot of the race. OK.
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  It's it's an equation horsepower to tire, right.
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  And it's off throttle time. When you have all throttle time,
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  if that's an opportunity for me to drive in deeper than the
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  other guy and make a pass. When we are all matting it and
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  we're all driving in all the way till we get to the corner and
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  there's no off throttle time, there's there's just no passing.
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  So today was seconds to fall off.
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  It was it was incredible. I was watching the Dash.
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  I'm just telling believe. In what I.
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  Was telling you I was thinking about 100 laps into the race.
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  When's the last time 18 second lap times have been run with a
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  Cup car in Bristol and I really can't exactly pinpoint it except
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  for that picture over there on the wall.
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  I bet that was about the last time a Cup car on 18 seconds
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  around Bristol, which is great. I mean it.
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  It provides so much opportunity for these guys to either make it
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  work or screw it up, honestly. No.
• 12:59
  Before we move on, anybody have any additional questions for
• 13:02
  Coach Gibbs? I've got one.
• 13:06
  Hey, Coach Steve, Monday, Rowan County Weather and Media wanted
• 13:09
  to ask you before the race. You mentioned that about some of
• 13:13
  your favorite memories here at Bristol.
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  How would this one rank with the win here tonight?
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  It was definitely different, something I'll definitely
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  remember and you know I the one thing I want to emphasize the
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  other, the other place where it was a real test was Pit Rd.
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  I was really concerned about that and the fact that you got
• 13:33
  that many stops and you got to make those guys had to really
• 13:37
  perform. And so I appreciate that.
• 13:40
  It takes a total effort and I appreciate Toyota all they do
• 13:44
  for us as a partner and just the whole, I think the the whole
• 13:50
  night was really a a great team effort by everybody.
• 13:55
  And then Denny, just a quick follow up for you.
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  I know at one point during the race early on when tire wear
• 14:01
  became the big issue and we knew that was going to be the theme
• 14:03
  for the night. You and a handful of other
• 14:05
  drivers started to really kind of pace the race a little bit.
• 14:08
  And I know that at times you ended up having a lot of cars
• 14:11
  stack up behind you. How stressful did that become
• 14:14
  that you had to worry about folks kind of pushing you and
• 14:16
  hitting you from behind to take you out of the race?
• 14:18
  Yeah, Ty was one of them. He was super aggressive wanting
• 14:21
  to go and I really wasn't wanting to go.
• 14:24
  And so I probably should have just kind of let him go earlier,
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  but I wanted to kind of control the air on the front of my car
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  as long as I could. The negative to it is, you know,
• 14:34
  you get shuffled out to the outside line, they've got
• 14:37
  everyone behind you, then you're going to wear your tires out by
• 14:40
  getting shuffled out. So it was a balance for sure,
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  but I felt comfortable enough in feeling how much slip I had when
• 14:48
  I was getting into the corner to know how much am I really
• 14:52
  pushing this. So it was it was very
• 14:55
  interesting how strategic it was and how hard you wanted to run,
• 14:59
  because certainly if someone wanted to, they could, they
• 15:02
  could have blasted from last to 1st, but they would have gone
• 15:06
  many laps down and blowing a tire.
• 15:08
  So it's just many times we would lose track position because of
• 15:11
  something on pit Rd. getting blocked in and like we just go
• 15:14
  right back to the front and then I just kind of get back in line
• 15:17
  and just wait. And so it was.
• 15:20
  It was fun in that aspect, but certainly a chess match.
• 15:24
  Lee Spencer SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and Catch fence.com Coach
• 15:28
  Your team sled 383 of the 500 laps today.
• 15:32
  You guys were running one through 4 for you know main part
• 15:35
  of the closing stages of the race, tie LED both stages or won
• 15:41
  both stages rather. Can you just talk to how you all
• 15:45
  plan for this race? I mean, clearly Denny, you know,
• 15:48
  class of the field and and he's won multiple times here before,
• 15:52
  but to be as dominant as an operation as y'all were today,
• 15:56
  it's, it's significant. Yeah, I I think our sport is
• 16:01
  really, really hard. And when you sit in those
• 16:04
  technical meetings tomorrow and you hear the engineering group,
• 16:08
  the crew chiefs and everybody and I, I think that's why the
• 16:13
  fans like it. It's your own pit Rd. that's
• 16:16
  going to be a major test. I don't know how many pit stops
• 16:19
  we have, but if we're a bunch, the technical aspect of the car
• 16:23
  and then right off the bat when we started having tire trouble,
• 16:27
  I heard Chris go, OK, this tires 45 laps or 48 laps and so they
• 16:34
  started planning OK, this is where it's going to go for the
• 16:38
  rest of the race. So it was totally different.
• 16:41
  But I think, you know, if you think about our sport, you go
• 16:44
  short track, we're going to go Rd. racing next week.
• 16:47
  We've been to restrictor plate, it is.
• 16:50
  There's a lot to it and in order to be a wind up coming out at
• 16:54
  the end of the year, being a champion, it's a huge deal.
• 16:57
  And to win a race, just to win a race today, that thing for me,
• 17:02
  you know, at about 400 laps I went, holy mackerel, this has
• 17:06
  been forever with so many changes and everything.
• 17:09
  So anyway, I I think it was a testament to today to how how it
• 17:15
  takes a lot of things going together in our sport.
• 17:19
  Our sport is really hard.