NASCAR CUP SERIES: COOK OUT 400

July 30, 2023

Denny Hamlin

Pit Lane Interview

Q. Strong day, Denny. With two to go your car shot up the track. What happened?

DENNY HAMLIN: I drove in way too deep. I was trying to get to the outside there. Really had a great run off of turn two on the restart and off of four again.

But, yeah, I was just so close to him there that I wanted to try to squirt a little extra gas to try to get to the outside. Just too much brake.

Man, I'm happy for Chris, RFK, those guys. I know they worked really hard to get to this point. I can appreciate the struggle that it is to get to this point. Congratulations to them.

Definitely a great job by this Mavis team. Kept me in it all day long. We just lacked a little, little bit to be the best there. So we just need to improve on it. Still a good day.

Q. Two things on the 'choose' there at the end. Were you happy to get the outside line? Did it cross your mind some of these guys might think they have license with you this week after last week and all the discussions?

DENNY HAMLIN: No. I appreciate that's a good talking point. But, no, it was not. I'm out there trying to win the race for sure. I loved getting the front row. I just got a god awful restart. Kyle just pushed me down the front straightaway, which is really helpful for us. Thanks for that.

I just didn't do a good job on the restart. I didn't do a good job into turn one on the second-to-last lap. Our team gave us a shot.

The race should have been his anyway. The caution at the end... It was a second chance at life for us there at the end.