NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

Topics:  Lenox Industrial Tools 301

Denny Hamlin
July 17, 2011

LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started in the media center with our post race interviews. We are joined by Denny Hamlin, who finished third. Denny, talk a little bit about the race today, your thoughts coming in here.
DENNY HAMLIN: Well, I mean, it was a pretty physical race in the sense that guys were really banging into each other. I was banging into guys. Just it was one of those days where you just had to do the best you can to keep four fenders on it by the end of the day.
We had three, but it was good enough to get us through and have a good comeback day finishing third.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Denny, you were as high as second with 10 or 15 laps to go. Just nothing in the tank to get to first?
DENNY HAMLIN: Well, I don't know. We won't know until here after the race, we fill the car back up and figure out how much I had left.
Obviously, I was running the 39 down. The crew chief is screaming that we got to back off. At that point you have to think about the risk versus reward. If we go out there and try to win the race, we get about 10 more points than what we get if we coast and get a third-place finish, or if we go for it and miss, run out of fuel, we end up with minus 20, 30 points.
It's just risk-versus-reward racing with these fuel mileage things. As bad as I wanted to go up there and race those guys, I had to make the smart move and finish the race.
THE MODERATOR: Denny, thank you very much.