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Denny Hamlin Previews The Daytona 500! · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Sean Bianchi with the Athletic to your left.
• 0:03
  From the outside, it certainly seems like the Toyotas have an
• 0:05
  advantage sweep the duels practice today.
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  Is that the case, or is that just kind of the way things have
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  worked out? Yeah, it's more the way it
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  worked out for sure. You know, we had a big toe from
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  another manufacturer pack of cars and that's that really is
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  plays in a big factor into what kind of lap times you run and
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  whatnot. When we didn't, when there
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  weren't as many cars out there, we ran about the same speed as
• 0:29
  everyone else. If you identified a favorite for
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  Sunday's race, Monday's race. There are none in this race.
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  I mean, yeah, there there is no favorite in this race.
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  All right, Jacob. And then Matt Weaver.
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  Jacob, C1 Race Face Digital, Denny Christopher talked about
• 0:46
  it a little bit after he's doing one last night.
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  But I'm curious your thoughts compared to last year with some
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  of the body updates that you guys have had.
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  What have you noticed? Any specific areas where you can
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  can feel a difference compared to last year in the draft with
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  the new with the new body this year?
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  Yes and no. I mean it's very similar to to
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  what we had in the past. I think you know how you connect
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  to cars and and how long you can stay attached is really
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  circumstantial to what kind of technique you use to get there.
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  And then do you have enough push coming from behind?
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  You know, maybe I I noticed that I can get pushed a little bit
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  straighter than what I didn't what it was in the past.
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  But it's tough for me to say. It's still not enough time and
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  data points to really pinpoint exactly what exactly is
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  different. Was there ever any internal
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  concern as far as the Toyota camp after how rough qualifying
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  was Wednesday that you know, you guys were maybe in a in a rough
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  position or was there kind of a general belief that the race
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  pace was going to be there? Yeah, I mean we we kind of knew
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  we were not going to be very good in the single car
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  qualifying. I I don't think anyone thought
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  it was going to be that bad for sure, but obviously it put our
• 2:03
  concerns to rest when it it obviously raced well, right.
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  So I think there's just a balance.
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  Sometimes you have to strike there.
• 2:13
  Matt Weaver Sports Not you've said a lot over the last two
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  years that with this new car and the new way of racing on Super
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  Speedway is that maybe you've lost a little bit of what you
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  had in the previous car. And I'm curious over the last
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  two years, the dual, have you started to figure that out and
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  what's changed in the the style of racing from Gen. 6 to Gen. 7?
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  Yeah, for sure. I I think certainly it's an
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  evolution. You got to continue to change
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  because these cars, the next Gen. cars you know do draft so
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  much differently than what we saw with the Gen. 6 cars.
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  Obviously you saw two by two racing you.
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  You're going to see that for the bulk of tomorrow or Sunday as
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  well. So it's just these next Gen.
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  cars have a lot of drag in them which is why we qualify you know
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  20 miles an hour slower than what we used to.
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  So with that you can really got to stay in line, you know for
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  the bulk of the race if there's no real opportunities once you
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  establish whether you're on the inside or the outside, there's
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  no real opportunities to make moves like you used to.
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  So you got to just be patient and try to cycle up to the front
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  through strategy or pick the right lane when another lane
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  starts to bobble, right. So it's just different in that
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  aspect. So it takes a little more
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  patience with next Gen. Bob.
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  Pochrus. Bob Pochrus, Fox Sports So after
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  the duels and after today, do you have a good sense of what
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  you can and can't do with this new body?
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  I do. I feel like, you know I started
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  continue pushing the limits of pushing throughout on the on
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  track time. Certainly yesterday I got a
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  little bit. I really didn't lock on with
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  anyone or push anyone. For most of the race there was a
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  few instances but then you know now it's Fridays getting closer
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  that Sunday I'm starting to push the limits of how far can I go,
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  how hard can I push and how long can I push.
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  I feel pretty good about my understanding of that now.
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  And I mean you threw a block there on McDowell, they're late
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  that I would guess probably when.
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  Yeah, I was late for sure. Yeah, so like, how do you judge?
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  OK, this worked in the dual, but I know on Sunday it might end
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  differently. Yeah, 100%.
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  You know, I think it's a little different situation because I
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  know McDowell has to protect his car.
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  So you can kind of put those guys on a little different spot
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  because they they are in protection mode.
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  But certainly going back and watching it, I didn't realize
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  the room was as big as it was, and it was certainly a a very,
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  very late block from my from my end.
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  So you you watch it, you learn, and you try to figure out how
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  you can do it better all. Right, right up here.
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  John Newby, NBC Sports. So you said, you know, with
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  super Speedway racing being more of a strategy game at this
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  point, is that I guess frustrating as a driver?
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  Do you have to kind of find not joy in a different sense?
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  You don't have to find a way to enjoy that strategy part.
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  Yeah, I mean, you have to embrace it for sure.
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  You know, I think that strategy has become such a big deal on
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  the Super speedways because we're running so much slower
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  than what we were before. Although the speeds may show
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  fast today in practice, a lot of that is because how tight we're
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  able to be with each other. If the cars had less drag, they
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  would run faster by themselves and probably, arguably we're not
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  run as fast in a pack. So you do have to, I mean you
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  have to suck it up and embrace that.
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  This is more strategy racing than it is craft racing now.
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  It's craft down towards the end. It certainly when when the pack
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  starts going crazy and the air starts getting disturbed, you
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  got to figure out the right lane to be in.
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  But for the 95% of the race, it's all it is.
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  All strategy and people are just trying to spend the least amount
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  of time on pit roads. They can save fuel and not get
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  out of line because you know the detriment and the drag of the
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  car will take you to last. Dustin Long, NBC Sports So is,
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  what is the balance between saving fuel and wanting to be up
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  at the front burning more fuel but controlling things?
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  How do you want, how does or is that?
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  How's that formula changed? Yeah, I mean I think that you
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  know you you don't, you're not going to, if you save fuel,
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  you're not going to go backwards because no one's able to pull
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  out and pass because they will, they will get try to start a
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  third line, it's going to be really impossible.
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  So what it allows you to do is just run 10th and just sit there
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  and just run half throttle and save fuel because you have no
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  ambitions of going forward. Because you're not going to go
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  forward unless you you're pushing your line to try to get
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  your entire line free, which that doesn't happen.
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  It's a yo-yo effect. You seem constantly, it's just
• 7:03
  the inside line then outside and they just keep doing that back
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  and forth until someone pulls down or or pulls up.
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  So you know you're not going anywhere.
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  So you just slow down by running half throttle.
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  So we're in the old car if you did that you could whoever's
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  behind you is just going to go and pull out, pass you and pull
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  back in line because the cars had less track.
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  So I think it's this is the whole new ball game of fuel
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  strategy and all that. This is a next Gen. thing.
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  It's not, you know, the teams have just gotten smarter over
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  time. This is we're racing what we've
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  got. I mean, this weekend's race may
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  be incredible, but with that type of strategy and what you're
• 7:42
  talking about for in essence the the the sports kick off the
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  biggest race. Does it make sense that maybe
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  the sport looks at creating something like that old old
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  rules policy where you can get out a little bit more to prevent
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  the notion of, I don't want to say running because I know you
• 8:00
  guys are going 100 and 8000 and 90 mph, you're still working.
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  But the notion of just running in place and saving fuel in
• 8:07
  what's supposed to be the biggest race of the year?
• 8:09
  Yeah, I mean, listen, this type of racing, this is, this is Mike
• 8:13
  Ford's dream in his statistical world because because because we
• 8:17
  just, we just keep going like this.
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  No one's really passing anyone. We're just doing this and he's
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  counting every time we do that. So I don't know if he's in the
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  room, but. But I they say you're upstairs,
• 8:31
  Mike. I love you, buddy.
• 8:34
  Yeah, don't be surprised if you see a world record amount of
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  passes in the Daytona 500 tomorrow all.
• 8:41
  Right. Thanks for the time Jenny all.
• 8:42
  Right. Y'all had enough of me.