NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 14, 2026

Denny Hamlin

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the race winner, Denny Hamlin. If you have a question...

Q. Before the season you said it could go either really well or not so well. When did you know that it would be going this well?

DENNY HAMLIN: I mean, probably a couple of races in. Obviously I told you guys I was not very locked in for the first couple of races with everything.

I never forget Michael when he addressed 23XI in the off-season, he says, What I'm interested to see is what does Denny do.

After what happened in Phoenix, you either pick yourself up and you respond or you fold. We'll find out.

He's finding out.

Q. Where do you feel three straight wins ranks on your list of accomplishments that you've had?

DENNY HAMLIN: I mean, I don't think it's going to be something that's going to go on the résumé. It's going to be something that I certainly remember.

Yeah, I mean, it's really not until you guys brought it to my attention that nobody in the top 10 -- or I was the only one that hadn't had three in a row in the top 10 of the winners. I was highly motivated anyway coming in here. I knew this would be my best shot. I knew that it ends next week obviously (smiling).

Now I'm just thinking, Holy crap, we're three seconds away from having five in a row at Charlotte with the rain. Oh, my goodness. It's been a fun run.

Q. Eighth win in Pocono.

DENNY HAMLIN: Ninth (smiling).

Q. Does it ever get old winning here? How much success you've had here, all the memories you've had at the triangle.

DENNY HAMLIN: No, it doesn't, just simply because when I see my career highlights, you know, the algorithm feeds your own shit because you look at it, but it's like there's so many Pocono memories. Like, it's replaying Pocono wins or when I put somebody in the wall for a win or something like that. It's always been part of kind of like my highlight reel.

It would be so cool in my last year, whenever that is, I guess next year, to win in it my first year and win it in my last year. That would be pretty cool.

We're coming close.

Q. To get this win, to now make it eight wins on the NASCAR, nine altogether, to pass Rowdy, to pass Kyle Busch, as the all-time wins leader here this year, this season, what does this mean to you?

DENNY HAMLIN: I mean, it's super special, certainly for a lot of reasons. I'm just at this point in my career trying to stack as many wins as possible. Points, whatever. Wherever we finish in the championship, whatever.

To me it's like wins, wins, wins. What is your win percentage? That's what I really, really am trying to continue on a run.

I mean, you always have aspirations to win 36 out of 36 races in a given season. You know it's not going to happen. But we've had so many races where we've been dominant this year.

Yeah, we won four, but man, we could easily have a lot right now. So I don't know. I don't think I've had a year where it's been this wild and crazy being able to execute.

That's been the biggest difference. The last month compared to earlier in the season, the speed is no different, it's just that the execution is better.

Q. You just made history tonight with you and Tyler Reddick having a three-peat in the same season. That's awesome. I want to ask you about the race. Pocono is all about momentum and precision. Where did you feel you were the strongest compared to the field? How much of this win came down to execution versus raw speed?

DENNY HAMLIN: Good question.

I feel as though I was best of the field on the exit of turn two. I thought it was a combination. It's hard for me to weigh, what is it... I think it was probably more speed, but you can lose by strategy. Speed allows us to run the strategy we want to run. It takes a lot of faith from Chris Gayle to say, We're going to win this stage, which I know at this point now I've got to go pass seven cars. It's not easy to pass here. He had faith that we could do it, we could get the restarts we needed.

There were a few key ones. I went second to the last one from sixth to second, and then from second to first. From that point on we got control of the race.

I think the fast car opens up all the other things. It makes strategy a heck of a lot easier. If you're looking for strategy to win you the race, it's usually because you don't have a car fast enough or track position.

Q. How does today's run stack up against your other seven wins here?

DENNY HAMLIN: They're similar. I mean, I feel like all the wins have been similar. Races here always kind of play out the same kind of way. As big as the racetrack is, and you can pit without going a lap down as long as you're within 17 seconds of the leader, it always turns into a strategy race.

If you're up front and can run fast, you eliminate the amount of people that can flip you on strategy. From the very beginning I told Cliff Daniels, Whatever one of us gets out here on the start, we need to go. We need to push the pace to not allow more cars to flip us.

I think only 6 was able to flip us because of how far we were able to stretch it out. That was executed good by both teams. It allowed us to not get buried where I had to play catch-up all day.

Q. You referenced what Michael said in the off-season. Something resonated about that because you remember that. What was it that caught you off guard or made you think? What kind of an impact did those words have on you?

DENNY HAMLIN: Well, I mean, when it happened, I'm fresh off of a lot of shit going bad, right? I'm showing up at the team meeting. We're there to give our motivational speech to 23XI on the season, define what your expectations are as owners, challenge our guys to get better.

I don't know what brought it up. I can't remember that part of it. I almost saw it as a challenge at that point, right? It's not like you won a championship in his first year. He went through the failure, then, boom, he bounced back, right?

I think just like everything else, if it's booze or it's trolls on social media, that's fuel for me. They don't know they're just fueling me. If you're rooting against me, you're not doing it the right way.

At that point when he said he was interested to see what happens, I considered that a challenge at that point.

Q. Outside the golf course, had he ever challenged you in a way like that? You joke and kid a lot, but this seems from the outside something that maybe hasn't happened in this way before.

DENNY HAMLIN: Not directly, no. I don't think he was trying to do that.

Q. (No microphone.)

DENNY HAMLIN: Yes, it hit that way.

It might have been because the 45 had a winless season and whatnot. I can't remember. They might have recorded it so I'd be interested to see what the context of it was.

I just remember that clip, and it's right here.

Q. How refreshing was it today the fact that you didn't have to come all the way from the back?

DENNY HAMLIN: I mean, I said it over the last two weeks, but it was true this week: we were not going to be able to come from the back this week. This racetrack is really narrow as far as the groove. It's just not going to be possible. It's not like 2006 where you can go to the back and come back through. The field is tighter than it's ever been.

I knew we were going to have to execute really, really well at a high level. I did all the work that I felt like I needed to do. Green flag pit stops. The pit crew did their part. The team gave me the strategy they thought was best. I was worried about it, but it turned out to be the right one.

So this race always comes down to execution. You got to have the speed first, then you execute, then strategy. That's the three things kind of in order of importance.

Q. You've executed all weekend now. First driver since Darrell Waltrip in 1981 to win from the pole three weeks in a row. What does that mean to you, especially with the fact that you're showing up not just with qualifying speed but race pace as well?

DENNY HAMLIN: I mean, it's fun. Truthfully when my balance was as far off as it was yesterday in practice, and we were still I think second fastest. Truthfully when I looked at the lap time, I thought we were in a different second bracket. Oh, shit, I'm half a second off of Reddick.

I was in the wrong bracket. We were a half second faster than Reddick. When I was watching him in practice, Damn, the 45 is really fast. I call those guys practice Jesuses anyway (smiling).

I thought that they had the car. I mean, they backed it up with a really strong performance after qualifying in the teens. So when I had that kind of speed and I knew I still had some room to gain with my car, that's where I was like, Okay, I need to qualify well, that's step one, and then I need to have a good execution race, and that will be step two.

Q. Can you recall from either the final 20 laps, the 24 started to close in on you, you're trying to catch Bell, what is going through your mind there?

DENNY HAMLIN: I was really actually impressed with the 24's speed. I wasn't taking it super easy. He caught me naturally on speed. I raced around the 9. I raced around all of them except for really the 48. I thought all of 'em had speed, like speed that could challenge.

I think we just had a little bit better balance in the super long run versus all three of those guys. But I thought, heads up, speed to speed, the Hendrick cars were toe to toe with us today.

We were a little better on the back end of runs. That was the difference maker. I just thought he was going to have a tough time. This is a racetrack where you really got to have a big disparity of speed to get around guys. I was in control enough of my car that it was going to be really tough for him to pass me.

Then I just waited on my car to really get good in the long run, and we went ahead and pulled away.

Q. You didn't really find out till Saturday about the in-season tournament, but you are lined up against Ty Dillon again. Any thoughts on that?

DENNY HAMLIN: My kryptonite (laughter). What's the first race?

Q. Sonoma.

DENNY HAMLIN: I'm cooked (laughter).

Q. Did you kind of have the feeling Bell wasn't going to make it to the end? You didn't have to press the issue with him?

DENNY HAMLIN: My team felt confident a few times that it would be hard for him to make it and still run the pace that was good enough to hold us off.

I could sense the nervousness when they kept bringing up, Go, if you can. That tells me that they were nervous that he might have made it.

So I don't know, I really wasn't crazy nervous about it 'cause, I mean, the only thing I can do is run the pace my car is capable of. If it gets there, it gets there. If it doesn't, it doesn't. If it doesn't, that's just another Toyota win.

We know that we brought a really fast car. I just really didn't let it change how I drove or how I approached those last 25 laps. If we get beat on strategy by someone that was able to make it, then so be it.

Q. I don't know if we've asked recently how your shoulder's holding up. What is the status of that? Could you make it all the way through next season without having to do anything to it?

DENNY HAMLIN: It's so interesting because it never, never healed from the surgery I had almost a couple years ago now. It never reattached. It just retore right away.

It didn't bother me until the week after I stopped racing at Phoenix. Next thing you know, I can't sleep, I can't lie on that side. It's, like, really bugging me. I don't know if it's PT is just doing this shit every week, but it's not bothering me a lot in season.

Now, I am really limited, the things that I do in the gym or extracurricular to not really piss it off. I've had to cut back those things.

If I knew I could keep it like this, I would just wait till the end of next year and get it fixed versus ruining my off-season.

He said he wanted to get another look at it in a couple weeks just to kind of check the status of it. I can assure you it didn't fix itself. It does not bother me right now in the car.

Q. Bell does have something that's really bothering him. Do you have any sense of what kind of mountain he has to climb with not being able to basically use one hand?

DENNY HAMLIN: Is it his left or right?

Q. Left.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, I mean, so that would bother me because I'm a left-hand pull person. As a driver, there's two different types. There's ones that guide with the right, or pull down with the left.

I'm a pull down. This hand is just hanging on for the ride, just for TV. Dale Jr. and those guys, Mark Martin, they really used their elbow, their hand on the right side to guide the car.

That would bother me. I don't know what Christopher's style is. I talked to him yesterday. He said, In the car it doesn't bother me one bit here. Next week he thinks will be a different story.

It's interesting. In those situations I just tell you, 'cause I've raced injured a lot in my career, sometimes it brings out the best of you because you just are hyperfocused on not being the weak link. Even though last week was not of his own doing, like, I always treated it like, man, I did something stupid outside the car, I'm playing something, end up getting hurt. These guys work way too hard for me to be the one that let them down.

Usually you get your best driver in those situations. It sounded like the ovals are really not going to bother Christopher. It's just what happens next week. I don't know.

Q. You now have more wins at Pocono than any other track in the Cup Series. Where does it rank on your favorite tracks? What are the other things on that list as well?

DENNY HAMLIN: It's a good thing we don't race here twice a year anymore. I wish we did. I think the place has earned it. Sold-out grandstands four years in a row. I come here Saturday morning, the infield, there's a line going in. It's packed. This place has just absolutely mastered the fan experience. It's a testament to the staff here, ownership here, just doing a phenomenal job of treating the fans the right way. That's why they're coming out.

Wish we got to race here more. I'm selfish. It's more for on-track reasons. We do have so much success here.

I found speed here when I was a rookie following Mark Martin for five laps my rookie season. I had no idea about this place. I thought he was the right guy to follow. I followed him. Passed him only lap six. I think I got this place figured out. From then on we've won a lot of races.

I've just approached the place the same way every time. It's worked.

Q. I talked to Chris Gayle and asked him on the balance of you relying on the experience and you relying on the advice of what your team is seeing. You could say I'm confident, I know what I do, despite what they say, versus maybe I should hear them out, make sure we're working more as a team.

DENNY HAMLIN: I'm sorry. Ask the first part again.

Q. What is it like balancing trusting in your experience versus relying or at least hearing what your team has to say?

DENNY HAMLIN: My specific 11 team?

Q. Yes.

DENNY HAMLIN: It just comes with a lot of trust. The one thing I love about the 11 team in specific is that they do a great job of coaching me. They're not afraid to tell me where I need to improve. They never ever, ever question what I need out of the car.

That comes with years of experience, right? When you have success like this, it makes it easy. When I tell them this is what I need, this is the direction I want you to go down this week, here's where I think I've been not so good over the last few years, improve this part of the track for me, they go do it.

That trust is what has been, in my mind, such an important role in our success. It's gone both ways, too, right? Last week was a great, great example. No, it was two weeks ago at Nashville.

Gayle, he can hear that I'm trying to talk him into pitting. He said, My call, we're staying. I love that. I love someone that's not afraid to push back and say, No, I got more information than you, we're going to live and die by my call, I'm confident in this. I'll ride with that guy.

Q. You have a quick turnaround to go all the way to San Diego. How much of a toll does that take on your body?

DENNY HAMLIN: It's a lot. I mean, truthfully it is a lot. Recovery has taken me an extra 24 hours over what it did five years ago.

But a lot of the work for the teams, they're kind of ahead of schedule. Cars are pretty much ready to go. Just put the setup in it. They can take off.

Generally speaking for me, it will be a hard workweek, no doubt about it. But I'm excited to try to keep this run going somehow, someway, so...

Don't want it to stop now. We've come so far with the points that we've gathered over the last few months that I don't want to break that momentum. Regardless of how much work it is, a great result will make me feel like it's worth it.

Q. This is not the first time when you got paired up with Chris Gayle, we've heard from you in the past, This is my last crew chief.

DENNY HAMLIN: I can assure you this is my last one (smiling). I will quit if they want to have another November 10th at 10 p.m. meeting. I am out, you can forget it.

Q. On that note, what you and Chris are doing together, he was saying in Victory Lane that you dream of runs like this as a crew chief. How much credit do you think he deserves for the success the team is having at this point in time?

DENNY HAMLIN: The unsung hero, in my opinion. Obviously a lot of credit goes to it's my experience, it's my car. The cars just don't appear out of clean air with a lot of speed on them. It takes a lot of work from a lot of people. You have to have a captain guiding the ship.

What I think he's done a great job of is coming into the 11's system and then refining the system from a different perspective, right? I think sometimes you really can get caught up in this is the way we've always done it, we've had good success in it, and this is the way we're going to do it.

He's not been afraid to put his own touches on the race team, guide our guys and our engineers and myself in certain directions we think will improve the team.

I don't think enough credit goes to Chris Gayle, certainly what he's doing with this race team and the cars he's putting on the racetrack right now.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Denny. Congratulations.

DENNY HAMLIN: Thank you.