Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Denny Hamlin Interview

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Denny Hamlin breaks down his emotional NASCAR Cup Series win in Las Vegas, explains why this may be the best team he has ever had at Joe Gibbs Racing, and discusses the dominant start to the season for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing. On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick sits down with Hamlin to discuss how his season has unfolded so far, what made the Las Vegas victory so meaningful, why his current team has been so effective, the early success of 23XI Racing and Michael Jordan’s impact at the track, what still needs to improve moving forward, and how he views the future of NASCAR as the sport continues to evolve. 0:00 - Intro0:33 - Denny Hamlin Joins The Show!1:57 - Emotions At Las Vegas4:24 - Deciding When To Retire7:46 - Experience Vs. Youth In NASCAR9:38 - Relationship With Joe Gibbs12:22 - 23XI’s Hot Start16:49 - Michael Jordan’s Influence On 23XI18:54 - NASCAR Ladder System22:15 - NASCAR’s Next Challenge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a winning team. It's a championship team. It's a team that should have won the championship last year. You're able to bring Michael Jordan Joy. Yeah. That is such a huge responsibility. It's such a, it's a great responsibility to have. How special is that relationship with Joe? Never will forget when my dad and him were out on pit road. You know, my dad goes to him. He's all yours now.

Well, we figured we'd find a spot that seems like you've been pretty interested in lately with all the fish. and boating and so here we are. I like it. This is actually a pretty good spot to find some bass. He's got some rip raft right here on the edge. The sun getting on it. The fish like to attract to the heat so the rocks keep the heat. So did the, I mean, when you were growing upward, did you fish?

No. Okay. So it sounds like you've acquired this fishing expertise. Is this like a chat GPT thing? Or are we going to real people? It's helped me. AI has definitely helped me educate me. But it really started.

I went, had a vacation with my dad, middle of last summer. And we just, there was a place that was like, hey, we got some fishing poles. If you're all want to throw out where the cabin is, where you're at, we did. We both caught some bass. And it was like pretty fun. I was like, man, this is, maybe I should take this up. Well, I've tried to get into it. but every time I go fishing with somebody,

and I'm sure it'll be the same way with you today, I just throw my line in the water. Time after time, after time, and the guy next to me catches all the fish. So either I can't see, can't hear, can't feel, whatever the case is. It's interesting. I'm going to figure out what they want. So last week you go back to Vegas.

You went 60 at Vegas. Obviously, it was super emotional with everything that you had going on. You had all the things go on with your dad and your mom and everything over the winter, the lawsuit, and you go back to Vegas and went again. And when I watched afterwards, it just seemed like you were very controlled with your emotions and kind of just everybody there,

your mom was there. What was that like for you this time around? Yeah, it's just different this time around. Obviously, in the fall, you know, dad wasn't doing well. and, you know, knew that our time was limited there, and I knew that that gave us a shot to go race in Phoenix for a championship. So the emotions were really high there because I knew that, okay, y'all, he saw me get 60.

Yeah. And, you know, he's going to get to see me go race for a championship. So, you know, that was really the edge that kind of got me, you know, going emotionally on that one. And then this one was just, you know, kind of the, okay we can we can still do it you know it's been a few months since we had won you know a lot of that

was not racing at all but you just don't know and the off season it's like you know do I still have the speed that I had before and then you know the gratification of knowing that my all my family was there and they hadn't been there for you know the last handful of races it's just you know with everyone schedules everything yeah well it was it was pretty neat to see so you got to you got to 61 you broke our tie

congrats thanks and you know You know, we had this conversation on Monday on the podcast, and I think that you can get to 70. In your mind, like, do you have a number? You've talked about, you know, next year possibly being your last year. And, you know, I went through all that myself. It's like, when's good last year, when's the bad last year? And we started talking about Darrell Walchrop and Jimmy Johnson and all these guys that lost at the end of the career. And it seems like your team is in a spot right now.

It's as good as it's ever been, in my opinion. And when I was at your point in my mid-40s, it's like everything just came easier from a circle of life standpoint and mentally. So in your head, I mean, how many races do you think you can you get to 70? Because I think it'll be really difficult. I just do. I just think that, you know, that's four more than. this year, five more next year.

It's just a big number. It's above all my averages. So I'd have to be above the average of what I've been my whole career. So does that matter to you? Do you even think about that? I mean, not. I mean, it all matters. I mean, I want to get as many as I can.

I thought, I thought realistically, 67 would be a legit goal. I could. So you do think about it. Yeah, you got an exact number. Be the goal. Yeah. Because that's, you know, another six or so, that's really doable. But, you know, once you get, you know, in that numbers, like, what's the difference of one or two more?

Yeah. It's just, it's all icing on the cake. Yeah. And when you're winning, I mean, at the end, I kind of won, kind of didn't, you know, so it was, it was a little bit easier for me. But it would have been, it would have been really hard to just say, eh, I'm going to stop right now. And while I've, I mean, we were competitive and still won a couple races. But I mean.

But did you know? I mean, you don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's just such a difficult decision. Did you feel like, here's a really good question. I would usually just call you up and ask you this. But if you were with a top team like I am and you were still at the skill set you felt like you were in your last year, would you go one more then? I probably would have.

if I was driving and in your situation, I probably would have kept going. But at Stuart Haas, it was kind of the end. Right. And I didn't want to go to another team and learn another system. That's right. And it also became, for me, it became like a balance of, okay, like, Keelan was racing and I've got the opportunity with Fox to go and say, okay, I can work for 14, 16 weeks, whatever it is and a little bit during the week and go do that.

So it was, it was a tough decision. And I had to call, I called Dale Jared, I called Rusty Wall. I mean, I called a bunch of people just to say, okay, how do you know? Because you don't know, but it would have been way harder in your position. Yeah, because I feel like as a competitor, I felt like when you quit, you were, I mean, I think he still led laps in your last. I did, yeah, led the last one. Yeah, it was, I thought you were just as competitive as you were for the first

the first 20 years I competed again. Yeah. So, but again, the situation is different because the team was on its way out and Yeah. And mine's still, you know, doing really well. So you're in your mid-40s and, you know, you've won, let's see, 17 races since you turn 40. Everybody talks about this as a young man's game. And I don't necessarily agree with that because I think experience in NASCAR, you know,

in the NASCAR Cup series really matters. And I think you expose that on a number of weekends where you can just outthink them and outdo them and go through traffic and do things at a higher level. What do you think that just the generational talent is as far as experience versus young? I think experience matters. I mean, if I had to just sit down with a young guy

and explain to them all the things I know about Chislau's, Vegas, it would take a day. Yeah. And it's just notes that I've compiled over time and experience that I've had over failures and different, you know, different successes. And so I just, there's, the experience just really, really matters. And I know what I need to feel at all these tracks is I want at them. And that's just, it's really hard to replicate when you know that at Vegas, and it's how

I knew after practice is like, yeah, we're good because I knew that, yeah, It's got the same feel that it had previously, and that's equal to win. So for a young guy, they're just trying to find their way. Are you good at poker? I haven't played quite some time. Your poker face was not that good. It was not good. Well, we got done with the interview, and we went off the air, I'm like, well, fellas,

the 11 is probably going to win this race this weekend because, and I saw you stuck with me. I do. Oh, absolutely. The whole thing. It was very evident. that you were confident in your car. And I think as you, when you, you're pretty savvy about the media side of things

and the things you say. And when you talk like that, you better, you better pay attention. And it's, it was, it was fun to see. And I think that, you know, the other interesting thing for me is, you know, you go through all the stuff that you've gone through over the last couple years

with lawsuits and your family and ups and downs and contracts, but it's, it's, you're pretty open about everything. But your relationship with Joe Gibbs is, I mean, it never seems to waver. I'm sure you guys argue and have some disagreements, but they never go public. And just how special is that relationship with, with Joe? Because it just seems like you guys have always just been together. Yeah, I just never will forget when my dad and him, we're out on pit road and, You know, my dad goes to him, he's all yours now.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And so that moment just kind of was like where Joe took over is my at-tracked dad. Yeah. And he really did. And so I just felt like, you know, the relationship with him has grown. I've got to know his family quite a bit. I just, I would do anything for him because I know he would do anything he could for me.

And it's just been a really strong relationship and a loyalty there that something that will never bring. Is this the best team you've ever had at Joe Gibbs chasing? I mean, it's really complete. It's just I got a really good rapport with crew chief engineers, the pick crew. They've been to, you know, I've had the same group of guys now for, I think, two or three years straight. It's a winning team. It's a championship team. It's a team that should have won the championship last year.

Didn't, but this team is absolutely capable. Is that the way you thought it would go when you're? switch from Chris? No, I was... Gaybart? I mean, that was the biggest beef I had with the whole situation is when you just got talking about, well, I didn't want to start over with someone else. And that's what I didn't want.

I said to Joe, and that was one of the very few times where I did get a little frustrated and was like, you know, I'm at the point of my career. I don't want to start over with another crew chief and things like that. But I tell you, working with Chris Gale, it's really been an honor. and he's really done a great job of taking this team and making it better. He's really put his own touch on it, his own fingerprints over the last few years, and we're seeing it with the results. Yeah, it's pretty amazing to him.

You know, you think you've got this all-star team and everything that you've got going on, and then all of a sudden, everybody has to stop and think and say, okay, he's a good driver, he's a good crew chief. We have this great organization, and then all of a sudden you don't really start over, but you start over with a relationship, and it almost, it's like finding a new girlfriend, right?

Like when you start over, you want a really impressor, and you never know how it's going to work. And so, you know, it's been pretty amazing to think that that 11 car could get better than what it was, but it really has. So not only have you been successful in the driver's seat on the racetrack this year, but 2311 has just started off. just on a ball of fire. You got the first two guys atop the point standings.

Tyler has gone, you know, went and won the first three races and not only the first three races, but the Daytona 500. You know how special that is. After everything that you had going on last year with the lawsuit, it obviously doesn't help the team and make it function better because of all the questions. Did you ever imagine that it would fire off like it did this year? Not really.

I mean, truthfully, not really. I know that the team had done some things in the offseason, and Dave Rogers, who runs the competition group over there, has made some personnel changes to improve all the teams. We had some extra hires in the off season that improved all departments in our team. And so we continue to build it. Every year, we've had more employees year over year over year

to help build that program into where I want it to be and where Michael wants it to be. but I would have never imagined a dream start that they've had. And it's not just Tyler, right? It's, you know, Riley's showing an improvement. We got Baba P2 in the points, most stage points of the year so far. So they're all running where we expect them to run and where we, you know, want them to run. But it's still, it's very hard in this sport to expect, you know, to be atop the standings like we're at right now.

So Tyler Reddick, I had him on the show at the show at the show. the first of the year, and after his Daytona 500 win, and, you know, he was hired to win races, and I'm sure that's the expectation he had, and you have. But I was sitting in the green room, and they're like, hey, Reddick's on. And I'm like, Reddick's on. It's 10 minutes early. And I get on there, and I ask him, I say, hey, how are you? And he's, I say, good. I said, man, I'm surprised you're 10 minutes early. And he said to me, he said, well, I'm trying to get my stuff together because I don't want to lose again next year and I realize that yeah through all the hard conversations and everything through the winter that I

had to do some things differently and you know some guys recognize that some guys don't how much of that has been a part of the process with him to get him in that frame of mind where the circle of life is good where he's realizing that he has to be a part of the team he can't just show up and drive the car good observation And I would say that, you know, that has been single-hally the biggest change that the 40-5 team has made in the all season is I think as Tyler has made it with himself. You know, yeah, there were things all great last year with everyone on the team and him. So-so. But I feel like this year you buckle down as like, you know what, I'm going to identify the things that I need to improve on.

Talks different. And I'm going to trust that the team's going to improve in the areas that they need to improve on. And so when you have those honest conversations and people, you know, have honest moments where they look at themselves and figure out where they can be better, that's when you're going to get the best results. It's, you know, Michael Jordan's famous. So you point your finger at me, you got three more pointing back at you, right? Right. It's just there's just you've got to trust in the process. And I feel like in the offseason, Tyler got some things.

And he went through some personal stuff last year as well with his son. So to have that kind of behind him, the family life where he wants it now, and it seems like him and Billy are now in the best spot that they've ever been in. Can they, I mean, do you think that they, like right now, do you think that they could compete with you to race for that championship? I think that they still got a little room to improve. That would agree. Easy for me to say, I mean, he's leading the standings.

But to win this whole thing, he's. I think he's going to have to get better on the short tracks, which is crazy to save for Tyler Redding. But I think that's the one weakness I see in the 45 is just can they improve a little bit? It doesn't take much, just a little bit on the short tracks. If they can do that, then they're a complete team. They would be more complete than the 11 because 11 on the road courses can't run with the 45. So he's your road course coach?

Yeah, exactly. The whole 2311 thing has been so interesting because you've got one of the world's biggest superstars in Michael Jordan. You've got yourself. And he said it, you know, on the competition side, he just follows your lead. And you guys have done a great job in mixing that up. He's been at pretty much every race this year as we've gone along. He definitely couldn't stop going until the streak was broken. but what's that mean?

I mean, I know what it means from a branding standpoint, but when he's out there high-fiving the pit crew guys and slapping him on the back and what does that do internally at 2311 when they see him around so much? They obviously see you all the time. Yeah, I mean, this is a dream. It's a dream for me, much less those pit crew guys or whether it be the team guys or whatever pit box is on that day.

like to be able to interact with them. And I told them, you know, bringing him, you're able to bring Michael Jordan joy. Yeah. That is such a huge responsibility. And it's such a, it's a great responsibility to have. And look at what, you know, look, no one's ever seen him this excited before. Yeah. Right.

And that is because of the hard work that you guys have put in. And so it just means a lot for team morale. And, you know, he sits in in our meetings, in our competition meeting. He'll really end in. And yeah, every now and then he'll sit in on it, give his feedback. We had one before the season started talking to all the drivers and the crew chiefs and all the department heads about, you know, what it takes to be a championship caliber team. And those words really rang deep with a lot of our team people. And they took it to heart.

And, I mean, they've just been working really hard. So you've got, you've got three cars on the racetrack right now. You've got, in my opinion, what is one of the best young guys that is coming up to our sport in Corey Haim. Where is our ladder system? Because to me, it's the Cup Series is a little bit broken as to how you get there and who's eligible. When you see a guy who's done what Corey Heim has done and not able to compete full time. because, you know, it's just there's not an open slot. Right.

And you guys can't put a car on a track full time, I would assume, because of where you are. That's the biggest. Yeah. That's the toughest part is when this new charter agreement came about and it cut the teams from four to three, it was like, okay, we had already made plans. Yeah. And so that really was a tough one. And in the long run, I'd like to see that change back.

So where do you see, where do you see that ladder system? where we are. Do you think it's broken? I mean, do you think that the requirements for a cup driver need to be different? Are the ages right? Not right? What's your opinion on that? It just keeps changing. You know, it was, you got to be 18, then you don't have to be 18. I don't know about all that. I mean, some of these young drivers that are 17, 18 year olds, I mean, they had the experience of a 25-year-old. When I got into, you know, an O'Reilly's car, I had far less experience. I think I ran a couple

Arka races, a couple truck races, and then got into the O'Reilly's car. Nowadays, I think the system is a little bit broken. More so at the top level than the bottom. I think it's okay to have some inexperienced guys out on you save for Arca. Now, do I think they should be at Daytona? Absolutely not.

I think that's just too fast of speeds. we certainly could update the latter system because if you made it more stringent, it essentially would force Cup teams and O'Reilly teams to then hire those that have accomplished the most in the lower levels. That's the way you can be. Yes.

So you have your alliance with Joe Gibbs racing. You guys obviously do a lot at 2311. Do you ever see it being anything more than Cup? I mean, do you ever see having your own system to feed your own drivers through there? I mean, I think anything is possible. When I bought land for the team, I bought extra. It's just in case.

Yeah. You just never know. I mean, I think that we don't know, you know, where things go in the future. Again, what kind of fields, cars we field or what have you. I know that we're really happy with the cup stuff right now and that being our primary focus. It's hard just to do that. It is. And then, you know, the advantages of the big teams is that they do have some sort of feeder system.

If they don't have it themselves, they're aligned with someone that they're getting the people and the drivers from. So that in turn is like the best way to do it long term, but it just takes a really significant investment that we're just not at quite yet until we accomplished what we went on the cup sack. So you went through everything that you went through, the sports obviously changed some. I feel like it's in a really good spot right now as far as building itself back up to what we all envision it to see. What's the top thing on your radar right now? Because you're really good at looking at the whole picture of things, the top thing we need to work on now that we've moved past everything from last year. Jolly. I mean, I think it's not too early to think about the next charter agreement.

I think it's not too early to think about where does the sport go long term with its schedule. Is it, do we race 38 weeks a year? Is it totally necessary to race that many times? I mean, that's why we have to hire so many people. And it was that we just, we're one right after another. There is no brakes. I thought I heard that the trucks had 14 off weeks. And it's like, sure, that'd be a lot more cost-effective if we could do that.

But it's just, I think you've got to think about long-term where the sport goes. I certainly feel as though Masscar's got a really good strategy going forward as far as it's, you know, how it's presenting itself, getting back to its roots. I don't know, we're both part of those conversations and it's just, you know, we've got to think about five to ten years for now. Like if you could build this thing from scratch, how would you build it? Where would you go? Would you go to places multiple times? all those things need to be thought about. And do the races need to be as long as they are?

How can we shorten up caution flags to not take 20 minutes? Like there's all kinds of little things that I think could improve the fan experience. Yeah. Well, it's an interesting conversation. And, you know, it's just everybody has a different perspective on it as to what that needs to be. But it's definitely in a better spot than it was. Well, it's been fun to watch everything that you've done or respect the heck out of the effort that you put into the sport. I think a lot of guys don't put the effort in that they could.

And watching what you've done with the team and the sport and everything is fun to follow. Well, it's what I love. Yeah. You know, it's what I grew up watching. It's when I was a kid, it's what we did as a family. Every Sunday I had to make sure I got to get the grass cut. And then I could come in and watch the race with my dad and his best friend George. And so that was what we did as a family.

It's still such a big part of my family and it's something that I hope to be a part of for a long time. Well, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you.