Denny Hamlin explains biggest change he’s made in NASCAR’s Next Gen car

Since the advent of the Next Gen car in the NASCAR Cup Series, Denny Hamlin has been one of the drivers who has flawlessly adjusted to the changes it provided.

During the latest episode of Harvick’s Happy Hour, Hamlin sat down for an interview with Kevin Harvick, where the former NASCAR champion decided to ask the No. 11 wheelman about those differences, “So what was the biggest thing you had to change from the old car to the new car from your driving style?”

Evidently, the first thing that comes to mind for Hamlin deals with the pedals in the car, especially Hamlin’s usage of the brake pedal.

“Man, I mean, the biggest thing is, I’ve always been a person that uses both pedals at the same time. I’ve always been a very active foot person,” Hamlin responded. “You’ve seen my traces. I bounce the throttle all over the place. Yeah, all over the place. Just trying to smooth that out a little bit.

“These cars with having so much drag, so little horsepower, getting off the brake pedal. That isn’t something I’ve always had — the brake pedal is a little comfort pedal for me. Like, always just barely on that thing. Just trying to roll as much speed as I can. Just really changing my style to be more momentum based.”

You never would’ve been able to tell Hamlin’s had to change so much inside the car. While he’s been around for a couple iterations of change to NASCAR’s Cup Series vehicles, Hamlin has found success regardless.

That’s stuck with Harvick, who later in the interview decided to give Hamlin the props the former NASCAR champion figured the No. 11 Toyota wheelman deserves.

“I’m gonna give you some props here, because I don’t think people give you the credit that you deserve, for your knowledge of the sport. The amount of work that you put into your craft, and what you do,” Harvick said, complimenting his former peer behind the wheel. “And I think when — we get a lot of questions, and you get a lot of publicity about wearing a black hat, and people not liking you and this and that. But the thing to me, that is the most overlooked thing about you and Chris [Gabehart] right now, is the work ethic and time that goes into this. 

“You started 23XI. You have a lot of things going on. But it seems like you can juggle all these balls,  and be able to perform in the car. It’s inevitable, that when you plug yourself into the car, there’s not going to be any distractions, and that’s tough to do.”

We’ll see if Denny Hamlin can continue to have the immense success we’ve seen from him over the course of his career. Kevin Harvick will certainly be keeping a close eye on whether he’s able to do so moving forward.