NASCAR CUP SERIES: COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500

September 5, 2021

Denny Hamlin

Frontstretch TV Interview

An Interview with:

Q. Wow. You picked a good day to get the first win of the season, didn't you?

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah. Southern 500, it's a big win. Yeah, I love this racetrack. It's by far my favorite racetrack. It's just great -- can't thank the Offerpad guys enough for everything they do and FedEx and man Shady Ray's, the Jordan brand, just everyone -- Coca-Cola, everyone at JGR that builds these fast cars.

Q. Walk me through that last lap. Kyle Larson said, I tried to video game it. He almost got you, didn't he?

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, he drove it in past the limit of the cars and the tires. I knew he was coming. I was a little bit conservative on that last lap because I had that four-car-length lead. Yeah, I didn't think it was going go that deep, but yeah, still a great race.

It's been back and forth with me and him most of the year. He's just been a little bit faster on these types of racetracks, and luckily the caution came when it did and the strategy worked out great for the team, but man, I'm really happy.

Q. We're going to show you the replay of that with the Whoop data in and watch your heart rate go up and just goes down. 119, pretty calm? Uh-oh. How did you stay so calm through that? You never went up?

DENNY HAMLIN: He was going to have to go through me (laughter). I knew that was about the only thing. But yeah, it was great, and those guys had the fastest car for most of the day. The 42 was super strong too. Really just happy for our team.

Q. Is there a way to describe how significant this win is, Denny? All year long everybody asking when it's going to come. It came at a good time.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, it was a matter of time. We can't just leading inside 10 laps to go every week and not get a win. Yesterday was some unique circumstances but, man, I tell you what, I couldn't be happier for this win and now to move to the round of 12.