Denny Hamlin reacts to Kyle Larson’s win, speaks from his heart on Jon Edwards, AI Pearce, and Shige Hattori’s tragic demise
Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin competed in the Food City 500 on Sunday, April 13, at Bristol, aiming to secure his third consecutive win of the season and his 57th victory for the team. But Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson changed the outcome of the race. Later, during a post-race interview, Hamlin expressed his feelings on the missed opportunity and the sudden demise of stock car racing entities, including Shige Hattori and Jon Edwards.
Hamlin and Larson have finished in the first and runner-up positions seven times in their careers, but this was the first time Larson secured first place. The JGR driver qualified fourth for the 500-lap race, one spot behind Larson. The HMS driver led both stages of the race and led 411 laps at the event. Hamlin was 2.250 seconds behind the #5 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver.
During the post-race interview with FOX Sports, Denny Hamlin praised Larson for his dominant run and said via FOX: NASCAR [00:09 onwards]:
"Yeah, we really did, but you got to give that team their due and Kyle his due. Yeah, they just had a dominant performance, and it looked like, you know, a pretty flawless thing for him. So it looked pretty easy. It was all I had to try to keep up there. Glad we were able to give them a little bit of a run with our progressive Toyota."
Further, the #11 Toyota Camry XSE driver touched upon the demise of NASCAR entities in the past week. adding:
"But this weekend, we're all thinking about Jon Edwards family out here, Sugi Tori. We've lost a lot of great people in our sport over this past week, so adults are with them. And yeah, I wish we could have got one more spot, but I just wanted to keep him honest there at the end. That's all I try to do. But he just was too much to handle this 11 car."
Denny Hamlin ranks second in the Cup Series drivers' standings with 316 points. He secured two wins, five top-five, and six top-10 finishes in nine starts this season. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson moved up two places after his Bristol win and ranks fourth with 304 points.
Joe Gibbs Racing ace Denny Hamlin's pit crew mastered a brilliant trick to save time during the pits
NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin's pit crew honed a move to save every tenth of a second during pits. Last week, after Hamlin's unexpected Darlington win, his jackman, Joel-Alexandre Bouagnon, was interviewed by the FS1 network and asked to explain his move and how he mastered it.
Bouagnon revealed that he slings the jack from behind, crossing his hand to make Hamlin's pit stop efficient and quick. He added that it took him almost an 'entire season' to master the move before he could use it on the racetrack.
The last pit stop boosted Denny Hamlin during the Goodyear 400 held on April 6 at Darlington Raceway. Hamlin led 10 laps and bagged 48 points.