‘It’s a big one,’ Denny Hamlin on winning the iconic Coco-Cola 600 in double overtime at Charlotte
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Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin survived the chaotic race in Charlotte Motor Speedway to secure his first iconic 600-mile race glory which also secures him an entry to the exclusive club of drivers to have won all the three major Cup races in NASCAR as the No:11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver already have three Daytona 500 and Southern 500 in his name.
The race was literally the definition of chaos as 18 cautions were put out which ate almost 96 laps of the 400 lapped race and forced it to double overtime making the already long 600-mile race to more than 5 hours. The race produced embarrassing and entertaining moments for drivers as crashes and top drives spinning out became regular.
Denny Hamlin who just led 15 laps in the 400 lap race was taking it soft since the start of the race as the pole sitter took it slowly from the beginning and survived most of the race in a deep top 10 until the end where he just like his Richmond run made an amazing advance to the front gaining on his teammate Kyle Busch to win the race at the final restart.
Contrary to the last season’s race which also witnessed 3 cautions, the nine times amounted to caution alongside some big names crashing out early also proved helpful to Hamlin and the support given to him b his crew and substitute crew chief was admirable.
Find out what Denny Hamlin had to say about the Charlotte win
Denny Hamlin pointed out that he feels so good about the fact that he was able to secure all three of the major races in the Cup Schedule winning the Charlotte race which has been eluding him for a long time. He went on to say it’s a special feeling to win the race as he has been with the coke family for a long time adding his daughter is much excited about the coke machine they have won.
“So good. It’s a big one. It’s one of the three majors we’ve got in our sport and it’s one that I haven’t won. To be part of the Coke family for as long as I have, and to finally win is awesome. My daughter was really excited about this Coke machine that we were going to win,” Denny Hamlin said.
Denny Hamlin added that he is very thankful to his partners and acknowledged that he had a lucky day for himself in Charlotte as though he was able to convert the pole to a win the misfortune of other guys helped him to secure the win.
“Can’t thank my partners enough – FedEx, Toyota, Coca-Cola, Sport Clips, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), the Jordan Brand, Logitech, Shady Rays – all those guys. We were just hanging around all day and then we had some good fortune there with other guys getting each other and finally had one go our way,” Denny Hamlin added.
‘Fabulous job handling the race,’ Denny Hamlin on his substitute crew chief Sam McCauley
Denny Hamlin acknowledged that he was worried about how his young substitute crew chief Sam McCauley will get the team together in Charlotte, especially the communication part, something he was very comfortable with the old crew chief, as the No:11 car crew chief Chris Gabehart is serving a suspension for loss tire. He went on to say that the new young guys did a fabulous job handling the race as they kept him in the race and gave him the opportunity to go for the win with smart Pit and push strategies.
“It means a lot and is something I was worried about all day. One thing I was worried about all day was just the communication with Sam (McCauley, substitute crew chief), I’m so used to Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) and then to have two very young and new guys over the wall for us, it worried me, but they did a fabulous job handling the race of knowing when to push and knowing when to have a smart stop and they honestly kept me in it and gave me a chance,” says Denny Hamlin.
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Justin P Joy
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