NASCAR CUP SERIES: CRACKER BARREL 400

May 31, 2026

Denny Hamlin

Frontstretch Quotes

An Interview with:

Q. Denny, wow, what a finish between you and your JGR teammates. How did you pull it off, that late restart and those last laps?

DENNY HAMLIN: Well, I think the 20 and the 19 were battling so hard on the first corner, just let me get to the inside of the 20 on the first corner there on the restart. From there, side by side with the 20. He drove in so deep on that last lap into 1, but it allowed me to barely clear off of 2.

Man, what an unbelievable day -- starting first, going to last, and back to first.

Q. I was going to ask about jumping the start at the beginning of the race. A, did you agree with the call? Then B, how did you know that you needed the patience to get through this entire race after that?

DENNY HAMLIN: I definitely jumped the start, no doubt about that. Yeah, just looking back on it, just didn't wait quite long enough.

I want to say hi to Mari and Trish from Progressive, this whole team, Sport Clips. Martha's retiring. Happy retirement to Martha. Jordan Brand, Yahoo, National Debt Relief, King's Hawaiian, Bob's Discount Furniture, just thanks to all the sponsors I've got. It's been amazing.

Thank you to the sellout crowd. I appreciate you all sticking around. It's been an honor.

Q. How does it feel to be the first Toyota driver in the Cup Series to win here?

DENNY HAMLIN: It's amazing.