Denny Hamlin talks Michael Jordan, podcasts and being a NASCAR villain

Casa Donte Lane:
“Is there anything about Michael’s commitment to teams in this sport? Is there any part of it that surprises you?”

Denny Hamlin:
“I mean, I know he’s been a big fan of the sport for a long time. You know, I was associated with him as a Jordan Brand athlete, probably in 2009, or ’10. So, you You know, I’ve been with him for ’13, ’14 and been a partner in some way. He’s always asking me questions about racing, even though he’s not a team owner. So I know he’s interested in the sport .but you know, at the end of the day, I mean, being in seven or eight playoff races this year, it’s important for our team because we know the drivers know who they’re driving for and just support them in the pits. .This goes a long way.”

Casa Donte Lane:
“In the Netflix thing, when you approached him about building the team, you said, ‘I just made my move.’ When he said, ‘Yeah. “I mean, did your jaw hit the floor?”

Denny Hamlin:
“It does. I remember exactly where I was. I was playing golf and I was on the ninth hole when I hit my second shot. I ended up leaving the ball in the fairway because I was so distracted, I just put the ball Driving onto the green, I didn’t, and my friends were like, hey, you didn’t hit the ball? I was like, yeah, but I got a text saying, you know, “If you want a partner, please tell me.””

Casa Donte Lane:
“It’s kind of like Bobby The Brain Heenan. Was this planned? Did you have this idea in your head? Was it completely spontaneous?”

Denny Hamlin:
“No, it was definitely a spontaneous moment. Obviously, just because of the crowd, I just feed off the crowd. My competition with the fans is actually very friendly. My ones, you know, I interact with the fans on this side of the fence .So they have the pit pass garage patch, which is very, very respectful. But when they’re on the other side of the fence talking about chaos. I’m on the other side of the fence talking about chaos as well.

Casa Donte Lane:
The podcast gives you some status in the garage, how does that change the way you interact with NASCAR brass and maybe the track officials?

Denny Hamlin:
“You know, I had to sit down with the top brass at NASCAR. I said, ‘Listen, this is my podcast. 80 percent of the time, I’m going to be very positive about what’s going on. But my The job is, you know, to be subjective and objective about what I’m seeing. Me and I trust the fans to tune in because they know they’re going to get an honest opinion. You have to deal with the 20% that’s negative. We both grew up from Coming out of that conversation, they acknowledged the fact that the sport gets better with your podcast. Thousands of people listen to the podcast every week, and we’re talking to the core fans who are listening to the podcast every week There are games.”

Casa Donte Lane:
“A lot of your contemporaries have gotten off the bus, why are you still doing this?”

Denny Hamlin:
Man, because I’m very competitive at this. I mean, I think you know, I might quit at any time when I feel like I can’t win at every track. But I just feel like I’m still in control. I can still run fast laps and practice qualifying during races. I just feel like I’m getting better all the time. “

Casa Donte Lane:
“If you had won the championship, do you think you would still be driving?”

Denny Hamlin:
“I think I’m definitely going to do it because, you know, my personal goal is to get 60 wins. If I can get 61 wins, then I can be the leader for Harvick and put you in the top 10 all-time. I just think that’s a little bit more of a goal and we can talk about championships, but the total number of championships is 12 wins, right? So I’d rather go into race winners and the upper echelons of NASCAR and I feel like that stat would be better than this column There’s more to this one.”