Late. I\u2019m pretty standard, three to five minutes late.<\/p>\n
2. What is the pettiest thing that annoys you during a race weekend?<\/strong><\/p>\n Not a whole lot annoys me on a race weekend. Is it petty to say rain delays? I mean, it annoys me. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s petty. So I\u2019ll just say rain delays in general.<\/p>\n Ty Gibbs survives late charge from Christopher Bell to win at Iowa Speedway<\/p>\n 3. What is something you\u2019ve learned to stop explaining to people?<\/strong><\/p>\n Why fans don\u2019t like me. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s my answer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s just not worth the effort anymore?<\/strong><\/p>\n No. It\u2019s \u201cYou wrecked the most popular driver,\u201d and then all the stories. It\u2019s too old.<\/p>\n 4. If you could go back to the early days before you reached NASCAR, what is one different decision you wish you had made?<\/strong><\/p>\n I truthfully don\u2019t really have one. We never really skipped anything.<\/p>\n I wish I was better when I was younger. I wish I knew the things I know now about racecraft. Back then, I would carelessly tear up a fender on a restart because I was young and just trying to go. That was hard on the family when I tore stuff up, and then hard on me because I had to go fix it.<\/p>\n My parents made a lot of sacrifices. I would never encourage any family to put themselves on a financial ledge like they did. But it worked out. It\u2019s just not something I\u2019d recommend.<\/p>\n 5. What is it like to be in a debrief after a bad race?<\/strong><\/p>\n The mood isn\u2019t quite as good, but I don\u2019t let the mood change the process. I\u2019m very thorough. I don\u2019t just say, \u201cWell, we sucked. The car wouldn\u2019t do this.\u201d The team needs really vital information to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n So for me, I\u2019m not in a great mood, but I also understand that any slump can be gotten out of. It\u2019s up to me to start the process to fix it.<\/p>\n \n Once again a title contender, Denny Hamlin is still searching for his elusive first Cup Series championship. (David Jensen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n 6. I\u2019m asking each driver a pair of wild-card questions: One about the past and one about the present. In terms of the past: If NASCAR had kept the old playoff format after last season, do you think you would have come back for another year or would you have retired after the heartbreak at Phoenix?<\/strong><\/p>\n Had they not gone to the Chase?<\/p>\n Yes.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was certainly a little bit of good news in my horrible-news offseason. It was like, \u201cOh, this is really good for us,\u201d because I know we\u2019re one of the top teams that performs every single week. It\u2019s not just about these small sample sizes that can crown a champion. So it certainly was a factor in getting me excited again to go do it.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know whether it really changed anything about retirement. But it absolutely made me more excited to come to the racetrack knowing that all this hard work wasn\u2019t going to get erased every three races.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what bugged me about Phoenix. We did what the format said we needed to do! Finally, after trying all these different ways, we did it. We did what it said to do: Dominate. Go out there, do your best, be your best when it absolutely mattered. And then something I unfortunately couldn\u2019t control changed who the champion was.<\/p>\n 7. In terms of the present, from the outside, you arguably appear to be as good or better than you\u2019ve ever been in your career. At age 45, do you feel like you\u2019re as good as you\u2019ve ever been across the board, or are there areas where age has forced you to compensate?<\/strong><\/p>\n If a NASCAR driver\u2019s skill set was broken into 10 categories, I\u2019m better in eight and worse in two.<\/p>\n Now, I study the two categories that I never really studied before to try to make up for what I feel are deficiencies. It used to be, \u201cWell, my skill will handle that part.\u201d Now I need to dig into it more to make sure I\u2019m up to date.<\/p>\n But those categories were better in your 20s and 30s?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n Why does that happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n Age, I think. Reaction time and all those things. I notice it more when I play other sports. As silly as my \u201cHoop Group\u201d basketball draft is (for the recreational league that takes place at his home gym), I went from being a third-rounder to now I\u2019m like a fifth-rounder. And the players are the same.<\/p>\n That\u2019s an ultimate telltale sign. I look around and I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m with all the old guys down at the bottom.\u201d (Laughs.) So that tells you I\u2019m clearly not as sharp at some things physically.<\/p>\n 8. If you could get any driver\u2019s helmet in the history of motorsports, whose would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Now it would probably be the Kyle Busch helmet \u2014 I think it was an Impact helmet when he had the Electric visor on his M&M\u2019s helmet. That one just pops into my head because I remember it. It\u2019s iconic. And obviously with everything that happened, that would be one that would be pretty special.<\/p>\n 9. When things are not going well, do you prefer people leave you alone or check in on you?<\/strong><\/p>\n (Laughs.) Leave me alone. I don\u2019t want to be consoled. Let me come out of my hibernation on my own.<\/p>\n My team has done a really good job of that. Just staying silent from when I get out of the car to the bus, to the car ride to the plane, then the plane ride. Usually about 15 minutes before descent is when I\u2019ll come out of it.<\/p>\n So everybody just waits on you to start talking?<\/strong><\/p>\n They\u2019ll talk amongst themselves, but they won\u2019t talk racing.<\/p>\n They\u2019re not saying, \u201cMan, tough restart.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n No. There are some people like (close friend and industry supplier) Greg Fornelli who don\u2019t know how to read the room and say, \u201cHey man, sorry. That sucked!\u201d (Laughs.)<\/p>\n I\u2019ll come around. I always come around.<\/p>\n 10. What is something about yourself that would surprise people who think they \u201cknow\u201d you?<\/strong><\/p>\n I would think people generally feel like I don\u2019t care what people think. But I do. Truthfully, I do care what people think. I heard Jamie McMurray in an interview last week after the Carson (Hocevar) interview. He said, \u201cI always wanted to be liked. I wanted people to respect me.\u201d I agree.<\/p>\n I definitely have this \u201cI don\u2019t care\u201d attitude. There are a lot of things I don\u2019t let bother me. But I do care if someone has a negative opinion of me, for sure.<\/p>\n 11. What is something you laugh about now that was absolutely not funny at the time?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Danica thing (when Danica Patrick angrily confronted Hamlin on pit road after a 2015 qualifying race at Daytona). That was a serious moment when I saw her stomping toward me.<\/p>\n I knew I was in it. I didn\u2019t know if she was going to hit me, but I knew I was going to have to be willing to take it. She was coming. She had the brigade right there. I met her halfway between her car and mine. I just remember thinking, \u201cTense up. Tense up, just in case she swings.\u201d (Laughs.)<\/p>\n![\"Denny](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2281591688-scaled.jpg\")
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