Denny Hamlin recently shared how he felt racing Kyle Larson towards the end at Dover. Hamlin, who emerged victorious against Larson, explained how difficult it was for him to keep the Hendrick Motorsports driver behind him.
During his post-race press conference, Hamlin was asked whether being in such scenarios against Larson in the past helped him defend against Larson better at Dover. Hamlin claimed that he certainly knows the pressure racing against Larson puts on him.
“I know that he’s willing to take chances to reel me in. It’s why you see some of these Next Gen races come down to a pretty close finish. If you’re not willing to push it to the absolute edge, you’re not optimizing lap time. I know that when he’s chasing, he is pushing it to the edge,” Hamlin told Frontstretch.
Speaking about himself, he claimed that he tries not to “screw up” and run to the full potential of his racecar for the off-chance that he goes into a corner, loses it, gets sideways, and Larson passes him, something that would’ve looked “really silly” as per Hamlin.
“That’s kind of a test on me, is am I executing, am I doing the best job that I can to hold him off. He had the long run speed on me for most of the day. It just kind of worked out timing-wise where I would stretch it out, then he would reel me back in. I mean, it’s hard. It’s hard when you’re racing against a guy who’s willing to wreck to win,” he added.
Kyle Larson tried all he could against Denny Hamlin at Dover
Speaking after the race at Dover, Kyle Larson, who won stage 2, opened up on his thoughts having challenged Denny Hamlin for the lead and coming up short. The Hendrick Motorsports driver claimed that as he got within three car lengths of Hamlin, he knew the #11 would start “moving around.”
But despite that, Larson couldn’t do much.
“I just couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds and all that. Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough to do anything,” he described.
Larson trying everything and coming up short, spoke volumes about Hamlin’s defense.
Denny Hamlin now has 3 wins so far this season, and is currently fourth in the Drivers’ Championship with 361 points, 49 behind top-placed Kyle Larson.
