Pit road is where the cars come in for service. When you leave it, the tires and car conditions can be different, so it can affect how the car drives right away.
A burnout is when the driver intentionally spins the tires for a moment. It helps the tires get warm and removes the slippery coating on brand-new tires so the car grips better.
The apron is the part of the track near the inside/pit area. It can handle differently than the main racing line, so drivers pay attention to how it feels.
If a tire skids or locks up, it can get a worn “flat” spot. That makes the tire less grippy and can make the car handle worse until the tire is replaced.
Some races are split into parts (“stages”). What you do in the first part can change where you start in the next part, so you may have to drive through traffic and pass more often.
In this format, doing well early doesn’t guarantee you start up front later. You might restart near the back, so you have to pass a lot and work through traffic.
The green flag is the start signal for the race. Before it comes out, the cars aren’t racing normally, so being behind “before the green” means you were already in trouble before the real action began.
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Definitely knew my opportunities to win a million bucks heavily increased when they changed the schedule in that manner. He must have stayed up late
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour podcast and it is the victory lap your boy momma smith back in the hot seat
Now listen folks if it smells like money, it looks like money
It must be denny hamlin because my man got the bag this week dh
Congratulations on the million dollars my friend
Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's uh
You know it was um, I I wasn't too excited about dover being the all-store race
But I definitely knew my uh my opportunities to win a million bucks heavily increased when they changed the schedule in that in that manner
For sure. Let's talk about the beginning of the day because you know the way practice the way qualifying was right
You you you peel off pit road and then you spin out
Were you just trying to get everyone you know give them a chance or was that part of the scheme?
What was going on with that?
Uh, it's just an old rye racing trick. You know, you just you do the burnout
all the things
No, but I um
So, you know, there's there's there's this shine on new tires, right?
And so you got to knock the shine off and so I didn't spin the tires leaving like when I made the turn there
I didn't spin them
So I still had the shine on the tires and when I actually tried to
Okay, let's test the apron because I saw so many guys have an issues
Um, I saw the shine on it
spun it right out and just lost control of the car. So
Let's learn there. It definitely flat spotted them. I was down a set of tires for the race
because those were beaten up so bad, but
Um, still was good enough, you know, the the team really that's a the qualifying a large amount of that is is goes to the
to the race team itself and
Very surprising to get the pole. Honestly. I this is not my forte is that type of format uh for qualifying
When you look at the the format, I heard you talk about um talk about it how you thought it was pretty entertaining
It was fun. There's a lot of comers and goers throughout the race
Uh, what was your perspective of the format? Do you like it in in this in this manner?
Well, I thought it challenged you. I mean, it's certainly challenged, you know
If you go out and you win the first stage or you
Finish in the top five, you're gonna have to start 20th or worse
And so now let's see how your car is in traffic and see how good you are in traffic
and are you able to pass and so
What I did like about it and I understand there was some chaos
With it and and I totally get that and I could be the next guy in in the next wreck
But it it you know with every pass usually when you go to the back because you have an issue
Every pass becomes harder
Well, actually in this scenario
The further you went up front the weaker the car was
Because they had finished and the tail of the last segment. So it actually
Promoted lots of overtaking in that second stage
Yeah, my home track thunder road. We have the thing called the milk bowl and it's a very similar format
It always brings high entertainment. Um, when you look at dover denny
What about that? It's racetrack really suits your style. Why do you love it so much?
You know, I didn't love it for really really long time. I actually had two former crew chiefs text me after the race
As man, we remember we just we showed up here and we go three laps down before
Before they dropped the green
And I just you know, I just never had a good feel about this place because
It's so far from the roots of racing that I grew up doing the local short tracks, right? The
The south side speedway south boston. This is just not that's not dover
And so I really struggled to find the feel I needed at this place and then
You know, I think after watching jimmy win is about tenth race at this racetrack
I'm just like i'm gonna spend a day
Just studying what he's doing. I'm just gonna watch a race from his in car every lap
Like it's my job. And so I just started studying it and I said, all right. I'm going to the racetrack
Going to approach it like I think he would and from that point on we've had success
You now that's the interesting point the work the working in the lab the the putting the time in
That separates the the good guys from the great guys
Have you been noticing more guys putting in that work or is the separation still pretty big?
No, I I mean from the guys I work around right I listen from
Joe Gibbs perspective. I mean I
Everyone's a little bit different there
2311's perspective. I mean I expect those guys to work very hard and and you know
I'm one of those owners that will check up and see if you you put the work in and so
That's and I think that's a lot of reason they've taken some giant leaps forward is that
You know, they have the ability to have somebody that's on another team come into their meetings
hear them
Maybe throw in a few other suggestions
And it's the team owner that gets to decide where they put the resources to make their cars go faster. So
I think that that's why it's all coming together over there across the street
Yeah, you talk about, you know, what it's like in 2311
You know, they've been getting the better of of the field of everybody this year with Tyler Reddick with all those wins
But you got the million bucks. So what was the text like with mj? I know there had to be something there
Yeah, I mean he he just gives me a congrats partner
Usually when I when I win and unless he's there in person then we chat it up
But I you know, I know he's on a far different time zone than what we are right now
So he must have stayed up
late because that the text I got I'm trying to do the math and like
Oh four a.m. That a dude he's staying up and watching his racing. There's no doubt about it
There's no doubt about it that michael join loves his nascar racing
Danny before before I let you go. I want to pick your brain a little bit the all-star race
What do we do with it? What do you think is next? Do you have any suggestions?
Is anything you'd like to see with the next all-star race?
Yeah, I mean I talked about on the podcast last night, but I I feel like, you know, if if I'm
Steve O'Donnell right now or ben kennedy
I'm going to smi and I'm saying, okay
We're going we're going to find a way to go to national for your grounds next year on saturday night
I think that gives a lot of the people what they want and I'm well aware that people change what they want by the day
especially nascar fans
But I just think that it needs net all-star races need to be at night. You got to have the opens got to come back
The format I didn't have a huge issue with the format. I knew there was some math involved
I think tv certainly could do a little better
You know, maybe you have where they're finishing position was while their live standings are where they're at
To just kind of help you with the math, but I thought the invert was good
The race needs to be shorter. Um, you know that that race yesterday was entirely too long
So there's a few things on the list, but I I definitely feel like going bring it to a
Shorter type of track. It doesn't have to be the shortest track, but a shorter type of racetrack
shorter distance
at night
nashville now we're starting to put a lot of things together that are
People would really be intrigued about
Those party denny you remember how the parties used to be in charlotte when we had the all-star race here
natural natural all-star party
That might be something I could sign up for I could sign up for that. I get it
Uh, man, listen before I had one more question that I wanted to ask you as you look for the rest of your season
You know your burnouts brother that you've been doing some interesting things
I know you had to burn out down to the end of pit road last year
You kind of keep moving it up. What what do we have to see for the rest of the year?
I know you're gonna get a couple more dubs here
Yeah apologies to those watching. I know they were a little confused on what was going on
I was being told on my radio and I kept checking
So I did a burnout. They said go do a burnout and turn one
Yeah, all right. I did it. I says I said now what they says go sit at the end of pit road until they call you
They're setting up the stage. So I just sat there and I kept checking in because they were coming to me saying
Go and I says I'm waiting on someone to tell me
to go and and so
They're checking in tv's waiting on me. So I don't know. I probably a little shared responsibility
on on that awkwardness, but um
I tried to give the people in the front stretch a little bit of snow smoke on the way the
To the victory lane, but they switched to victory lane up. They wanted it closer to the fans, which uh, I definitely appreciated
No, that's cool. You did what you could in this situation when you got to the front stretch
It looked good, man
Denny Hammond walk in future Hall of Famer appreciate it. Congrats on the win big guy
Thanks, appreciate it
You
About this episode
Denny Hamlin breaks down what happened at Dover, saying new tires carry a surface “shine” that needs to be knocked off—otherwise a spin can “flat spot” the tires and cost a set for the race. He also explains how the stage format reshapes strategy, forcing restarts deep in the field and testing how you run in traffic. Hamlin adds that he studied Jimmy Johnson’s in-car data lap-by-lap, and shares ideas for the next All-Star Race, including making it shorter and at night.
Denny Hamlin breaks down his massive NASCAR All-Star Race win at Dover, winning $1 million, the NASCAR All-Star format, and overall race strategy. On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Mamba Smith sits down with Denny Hamlin to discuss his All-Star race victory, what it took to win the race, his honest thoughts on the future of the NASCAR All-Star Race, and his opinion on what should change.
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