Denny Hamlin unfiltered about Kyle Larson’s game-changing skill that massively paid off
56-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Denny Hamlin finished in the runner-up spot behind Kyle Larson in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 13. Hamlin ran behind Larson for much of the race, and in his post-race interview, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver explained why Larson did so much better than him.
It was a successful yet emotional race weekend for Larson, who won the Xfinity race on Saturday and the Cup race on Sunday after the heartbreaking loss of his friend and PR representative Jon Edwards earlier in the week. The Hendrick Motorsport driver started from third on Sunday ahead of Denny Hamlin and dominated the race, leading 411 out of the 500 laps on the way to his second victory of the season.
Larson took the lead from his teammate Alex Bowman (pole sitter) on lap 40 and never looked back. He led all the way to lap 389, winning both the stages, before pitting during a green-flag pit cycle. He regained the lead on lap 440 from Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and led to the finish line. All this time, Denny Hamlin was waiting for an opportunity to get ahead of Larson but couldn't do it.
When asked in his post-race interview what more he needed to get ahead of Larson, the 44-year-old explained (via Frontstretch's X handle):
"Yeah, just needed a little more speed, needed to be a little bit more versatile. I thought that the #5 was able to navigate traffic slightly better than I was, and that was a big benefit. And then certainly, I felt like on open race track I could run with him and was able to catch him there on the second long stint, but I just couldn't navigate the traffic quite as good as he could." (0:00 - 0:30)
With a P2 finish, Hamlin maintains his second-place spot in the drivers' standings and has reduced his deficit to 30 points against the championship leader, William Byron.
Denny Hamlin talks retirement at Bristol Motor Speedway
At 44 years old, Denny Hamlin is the oldest driver on the NASCAR Cup Series grid. So it's natural that questions about his retirement would pop up every now and then. In the post-race press conference at Bristol Motor Speedway, the JGR driver was asked how long he planned to continue racing.
Hamlin said he would continue to race as long as he thinks he is still competitive. He gave the example of Kevin Harvick, saying that Harvick raced till he was 48 and still looked competitive.
"My drive is still there, and obviously the performance is still there. I’m gonna try to just win all I can this window while it is still there. Mark Martin did it when he was 50 and was fantastic. There’s no way I’ll ever make it that far, but again, everyone’s body, mind, and eyesight are all different, and it goes away at different times," he said (via journalist Bob Pockrass' X handle).
Denny Hamlin will be back to Cup racing on Sunday, April 27, in the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.