Denny Hamlin pressed on racing for win vs. teammate after battling two for Dover win

Joe Gibbs Racing had an impressive performance last weekend at Dover, with Denny Hamlin standing tall. However, the veteran wheelman had to go through his teammates to get the win in Delaware.

The No. 11 Toyota team was racing hard against fellow JGR cars in Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe during the final stage last Sunday. Unfortunately, Bell spun, putting a damper on his afternoon, but Briscoe was able to finish as the runner-up.

As the dust settles on Hamlin’s win and he looks ahead to Indianapolis this weekend, the veteran wheelman took some time to explain what it’s like racing your teammate for the win. While it certainly gives him a bit of pause, his aggressiveness never wavers, it seems.

“Certainly, as a driver, (racing your teammate for the win) puts you in a more difficult spot,” Hamlin stated, regarding his battles with Bell and Briscoe at Dover. “When you have to go see that person the next day in a meeting, you certainly think about it. You think about what the repercussions are if we take each other out and another team wins. You certainly then have to answer to the boss, not just the other person. So it does (put you in a tough spot). It puts your teammates in a tough spot when they’re challenging for a win.

“But, I think there’s ways that you can do it without jeopardizing each other, that’s also maybe a little aggressive. I think that everyone nowadays is aggressive for race wins. It’s just a tough balance when your teammates.”

Alas, Hamlin’s figured it out, and it seems like it’s rubbing off on Briscoe during Year 1 at JGR. The Indiana native made it a point to note that if Hamlin wasn’t his teammate, he would’ve raced him differently, but Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic believes that was the right decision.

“You’re kind of the new guy at JGR. You don’t want to upset the apple cart,” Bianchi stated, regarding Briscoe via the latest episode of The Teardown. “You want to be a good teammate. You want to kind of establish yourself and say, ‘Hey, listen, I’m for you guys. I can be counted on,’ and going and crashing your teammate while racing for the win and handing that victory to your rival organization is not a good way to do that. I think he raced really smart. He raced aggressively at times, and he got another good finish.”

Moving forward, Denny Hamlin is hoping there are more wins in store for Joe Gibbs Racing — for himself, and his teammates. Perhaps they’ll return to Victory Lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since Kyle Busch kissed the bricks in the No. 18 Toyota back in 2016.