Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Denny Hamlin Interview following win at Gateway | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Fresh off his Cup Series win at Gateway, Denny Hamlin joins Kevin Harvick for this week’s Victory Lap on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. The two break down Hamlin’s dominant performance at Gateway, how confident he feels advancing to the Round of 12, and why this is the most relaxed postseason of his career. Hamlin shares how his calm energy is lifting the whole team, how he’s approaching this playoff run differently, and why his new hobby — fishing — has given him a fresh perspective at the track. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I just feel as though I'm not putting any pressure on myself. I'm not going to get too caught up in, I got to survive this round, I got to survive that round. The end goal is to win a championship. If I can win, things are going to work themselves out. They don't, they don't. Well, Mr. Hamlin, you are back in Victory Lane again at a great time of the year. Look really relaxed after the race.

But the thing that I can't get over is how fast those cars are to start these playoffs. So congratulations and tell us about your weekend. Yeah, it was a good weekend. And, you know, for two consecutive weeks, we actually didn't have a good practice. I felt like, you know, we were a little off on our speed. But it's something that we hemmed up for qualifying. Both times we just got to a place where, you know, he says, all right, tell me what you need for the short run. Let's figure out qualifying first.

And then we'll kind of work on what happens in race trim. And so we did it. He made big adjustments at Darlington for the one lap, and it was like, okay, I said, that's the direction I need now for race trim. Same thing at Gateway where we were, you know, very average, very pedestrian when it came to kind of lap times. And I said, you know, here's what I need in the short run. And when I drove it, I says, okay, now that's what I need for race trim as well. So it sent the team in a direction to, you know, to work on it. and obviously we got better overnight.

When you talk about that relationship, I'm interesting because you've obviously been through a lot of this with Chris Gabehart, now you're with Gail, and all the things that you have done. What's been the difference in approach as you've gone into the playoffs? Because you're super relaxed, having fun after the race with the fans and everything that you have going on. You just seem super relaxed, you know,

with everything that you have going on around you, but obviously you're winning on the racetrack. Am I reading that wrong? Because it just seems like there's a little bit of difference in your demeanor over the first couple weeks. I just, I said it before the playoffs started, that this is going to be the loosest that I'm going to approach this playoffs. I do, you know, I'm going to care less about the result, you know,

which is like if you're a golf, offer, you know, right? You say, I want to shoot scratch today. That's my goal, is shoot scratch. That's a bad, bad thing to do. I live shot to shot, which is race to race. Now, the end goal is to win a championship, but I just want to get some birdies here and there, which is a couple race wins. If I can do that, things are going to work itself out to where I can achieve that end goal, which is shooting scratch. And so I'm not going to get too caught up in, oh my gosh. points and I got to survive this round, I got to survive that round. Like, I just want to win. And if I can win, things are going to work themselves out. And if they don't, they don't. I'll have a chance to

win seven days later. So I just feel as though I'm not putting any pressure on myself whatsoever to go out there and get to Phoenix, win Phoenix. If I do, I do. If I don't, I don't. But it's going to be about how can I keep winning and things will work of themselves out in the standings and I just got to keep doing my job and if I do my job, the result is what the result is. That's funny that you say that because we've had some conversation on here the last couple weeks about the driver's personality and the way that the driver feels

and the things that he says have a direct effect on how your pit crew acts on how your crew chief acts. Is that a, I mean, do you believe in that? Because I always feel like the driver's personality is the personality that the team carries. I agree with that. I certainly do. And it's changed throughout my career. Early on, you know, when I had a bad pit stop, it was like, come on, guys.

You know, get your head out of your ass or whatever it might be, right? But now it's like I understand the leadership aspect of it a lot more. and understand that, you know, there's nobody that wants you to win as much as what you're, the guys wearing the same uniform as you. And so, you know, you got to let them, you know, do their jobs and, and certainly rely on your team leaders, your crew chiefs, your car chiefs, to lead the, you know, that, your pick crews. And so I'm going to pump them up when they do a great job. But as far as beating them down when we're not, I, I just don't. I haven't seen that be, you know, something that's worked.

And so I do think that you have to be the face of your team and the leader of your team in the sense of that. You know, you set the tone. If you seem excited inside the race car, when things are not going as planned, I think everyone hits the panic. You influence now your crew chief to maybe make a call he didn't want to make, had his IQ not been at the racetrack.

You know, teams make great strategy calls, but soon as they get the racetrack, their IQ drops, 50 points, just simply because of all the things going on. And so how can you be that level head to say, we didn't see this coming, it's fine, what's the next step? What's the next right step? And that will lead us to our best result on that day. That's age and wisdom, my friend. I've been on the other side of that as well.

I'm just completely demolishing them. and it never, it never, it never works. It never works out in your favor. It just makes, makes things worse, as we saw several times on pit road and the racetrack this weekend. So you mentioned comparing it to golf. What's this fishing thing? What's, what's happening with the, with all the fishing?

Is that like the new Denny Hamlin relief or what is, what is going on here? So I think it is, it's a lot like, there is so much chaos. Obviously, we know all the things that, that I'm going through, and I feel like it is my moment that it's quiet. You know, even we both live in a house with multiple children. And even your house at times is a chaotic spot where it's like, oh my gosh, I'm just trying to lock myself in a room and just have some quiet here for a second. And the water is the place for me to do that.

And I've found, you know, great enjoyment out of just slow. down. I mean, it's teaching me patience. You know, you can go out there for hours and hours and just keep casting and not even get a bite. But it teaches me patience. And that's something that I feel like I need to improve on as a person is being a more patient person. And I think that it's helping with some life lessons. And if I can catch a fish on the way, that'd be great. So let me ask you this. Have you had to teach yourself how to like tie your own lines? And so how many times have you cast the thing out there and the and the and the bait just goes with it? Are you, are you still a rookie?

A few. No, a few. I've learned the hard way. I've, you know, had really nice bait. I've spent a lot of time. I've tied this knot next to you know, boom, I pop. And then there goes the bait. The line is snapped.

So my YouTube is full of all kinds of fission. things. A lot of it is knots. There's several different knots. I'm tying one that's, you know, you've got to tie to get your line on the baitcaster itself. You're tying now a leader line. You're tying the line. You're tying the knot on the actual bait. This is an education. I'm like a six-year-old right now on YouTube, basically trying to find all these different things. What am I doing wrong. Yeah. So last question. So have you thrown your fishing pole in the water yet? No. I did catch a kid's fishing, but I thought I had a fish the other night, and I pulled it up, and I'm like, oh, man, I'm pulling, this is pretty good size. I pull it up, and I notice it's not fighting back.

It's just heavy. And I'm like, oh, I don't caught a damn tree fish. And I pull up, and I have a pitcher, and it's a damn kids fishing pole that was at the bottom of the lake. And I'm like, of course, that's the one thing I catch. Oh, that's awesome. Well, congratulations. Hopefully you can catch a real fish and keep this run going throughout the playoffs. You guys look like you're on it. So congrats and good luck.

All right. Appreciate it.