Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Denny Hamlin Interview after Win at Michigan | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Denny Hamlin joins Kevin Harvick for this week’s ‘Victory Lap’ after his dramatic win at Michigan to the personal and professional balancing act he’s managing off the track. Hamlin breaks down the fuel-mileage strategy that helped him pass William Byron in the final laps, how he’s preparing for the upcoming Mexico City race with a baby on the way, and how he handles the highs and lows of fan interactions. Plus, Denny shares his thoughts on the recent federal court ruling involving 23XI Racing, what it means for his team’s future, and how they’re navigating the uncertainty around charters for the 2025 season. The duo also dives into the return of RAM to the NASCAR Truck Series and what it signals for the sport moving forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I said to my team this morning, winning is so fun. We should do it more often. It really doesn't matter if it's a mile and a half, two mile track, or it's a half a mile track. We're winning at all of them. If they're allowed to boo, then I should be allowed to antagonize them. We're going to be racing this year no matter what. We're going to have our day in court in December. We look forward to that day.

Well, Denny, it was definitely a team display yesterday. I would consider that a typical Michigan race and the way that everything shook out with the fuel mileage and tires and strategy. crashes. It was definitely one of those. But for you guys, a team win and that had to feel good at that type of racetrack with a relatively young team. Yeah, no doubt. It's, you know, I've had them go both ways. You know, of all the wins, I'm trying to think like when I've been on the good side of fuel mileage, and I guarantee you, you know, every driver can always name the ones that fuel mileage has bitten them and I certainly can. But yeah, it feels good. You know, we're able to kind of, you know, take the lead, obviously, before William ran out, but just, you know, really afforded us the opportunity to stay close to those guys up front because, you know, really the top four or five had to save on that, you know, last run. And we really didn't need to.

So that gave us an opportunity to close in. But then once we got there, obviously, you know, the guys had to run all out to try to keep the track position. So it was a lot of fun. I mean, we had a strong car. I think we were one of the fastest cars all day. I think the 17. 24, all those guys were, you know, certainly had a lot of speed, but felt good to get on the other side of this thing for once. When you look at your team in general, I think, and I heard Gail say it after the race, just having to make those calls up there and strategize that whole race and do the things from his standpoint, it sounded like it gave him a lot of confidence. Where do you think you guys are? You've won races. Where do you think you are for the long haul? What are the weaknesses? What do you need to work on as far as different types of track?

and what needs to be that those next building blocks to really put you in position when it comes time for the playoffs? I mean, I feel really good at all ovals right now. It really doesn't matter if it's a mile and a half, two mile track, or it's a half a mile track. We're winning at all of them right at the moment. Certainly the road course is still less to be desired there. You know, at this point, it's, you know, how much time can I really put in it to get, like a lot better. I feel like I can compete,

but I'm just not part of that elite group that are going to show up and have raw speed on the road courses right at the moment. So, you know, we try to manage when we go to those types of tracks to get the best day we can, get as many points as we can, and then just move on to our strengths. I think that that's the best way to kind of utilize the time that we've got. And it feels good to get wins at tracks,

where you should be winning. So after the race, how much fun are you having? Because it appears to me, like, the more this all goes on with the fans and the banner, the more comfortable you get and the more fun you're having with it. Is that true? Am I reading that wrong? No, you're not. You're definitely feeding into it.

And I always give the fans the first opportunity to show me where they're at. You know, I don't try to antagonize them until I get some sort of reaction. And then, then it's my turn to have a rebuttal. Like, if they're allowed to boo, then I should be allowed to antagonize them. So I think that's the only thing that's fair. So it is fun. I said to my team this morning, I was like, you know, winning is so fun. We should do it more often.

Like, it really is. And it just, it makes you feel good. certainly we started this last season the same way. I think we won three of the first 11 or 12 races last year. First three of the 15 or so this year. But we just lost a little speed last year. And so I just, you know, we need to keep the speed that we've got. I think the playoffs actually play out better for us this year.

They moved one road course out, one. They moved one super speedway out. And so it really suits up pretty well for us. year if you look at the schedule. So just trying to get all the bonus points I can and try to give me that buffer to just get to the final four and then just figure out what happens after that. So how is the baby watch going? Are we going to make it happen this week? Or, you know, this week seems a little bit tougher to, yeah. This week seems, this week seems a little tougher to navigate than others, though. It is. You know, this week puts you in a little more difficult spot because it's just,

you know, I can't, I'm not going to leave the country if I don't, you know, have a baby yet. It's not like I'm, you know, a one hour flight and then a little bit of car ride to the hospital. Like it's just it's a little bit different than you got to leave earlier this week, you know, to get into Mexico. So I'm urging. I'm trying to do everything we can. She's doing everything she can. It's not really on me at this point. I just try to support her the best that I can. Give her whatever she wants to, you know, try to get this baby out. So we're trying. It's a week overdue now.

So we'll just have to play it by ear. This week, Ram announced that they're coming back into the truck series. From a team owner perspective, how does that, I know it's not Cup, but we know that the ultimate goal is for them to get to Cup. How does that make it better, worse, more challenging? what does that bring to the table from the owner's standpoint? Because I always felt like the more the merrier because it made the money flow better from the current manufacturers. Yeah, that's the right way to think of it.

Absolutely. And if you look at kind of Toyota, they're all four more manufacturers. You know, the burden really falls on the few manufacturers that you have. When you've got 36 cup teams and you've got only three manufacturers, it's really hard for them to spread 100% of their resources to 10, 12 teams. They have to pick and choose where they spend those resources. So the more manufacturers you have, certainly the more money that flows down to the teams, it would make the business model somewhat more viable. But I think it's the right thing for

Dodge to do, right, is to dip their toe back in an NASCAR. Certainly the truck series is the place to do that. You don't have to build your own engines. You essentially, I think, think, you know, to over simplify it, you know, they've got to build a body, really. And that's, you know, they've got all common engines over there in the truck series. I don't know that they've got to spend a whole lot on, you know, set up technology and engineering. Like, it's a very, it's a lower price point probably for them to get their feet back into NASCAR and then see how this thing goes and hopefully build it up into the Cup series. So last thing, you know, obviously everybody's talked about the the 2311 stuff and the lawsuits and everything that goes with that.

Are you surprised, not surprised, just kind of part of the process? Where do you think it goes for the rest of the year? Yeah, listen, it's hard to win everything. There's so many motions and this and that that goes into litigation. I've gotten a really big education on it over the last year or eight months or whatever we've been doing this. But it's hard to win everything. but certainly we may remain committed to running our cars,

whether it's chartered or open, whatever it is. We've set it for the entire season. We're going to be racing this year no matter what. We're going to have our day in court in December, and we look forward to that day. Well, friend, it is pretty impressive to see the way that you manage everything and all the politics and the banner with the fans and everything that you have going on right now

to park that car in Victory Lane is quite a statement from you and your team. So congratulations. And hopefully you win again because at some point I'm going to have drink enough beer on the weekend that I'm going to toilet paper at the back of your house just for fun. Hey, just remember, you get what you give. Okay. That's right. Just beware. Well, yeah, it might be, it might be a fun little project. That's right. Okay. All right. Congratulations. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you.