Denny Hamlin’s relationship with Joe Gibbs has been a fascinating one over the course of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
During the latest episode of Harvick’s Happy Hour, Hamlin sat down for an interview with Kevin Harvick, where he explained the best lesson he’s been taught throughout his career by his team owner in Joe Gibbs, especially now that he’s a team owner himself with 23XI Racing.
“The best advice he ever said was don’t be a team owner. He tried to he tried to talk me into that, for sure. And say that, ‘You’re making a huge mistake,’ which I agree with him, but I’ll say that just he leads by example,” Hamlin said. “And when I say that, it’s Monday morning at 830. Drive by Joe Gibbs Racing, and you’ll see Joe’s car sitting in the parking lot. He works — he shows his work ethic, through example. And he’s there saying, ‘What can we do,’ say you didn’t win this weekend. He goes to all the cars that lose, before he goes to victory lane for the ones that wins. He meets with every driver and says, ‘What do you need? What can I do to help you be better?’ And I appreciate that. That you’ve got an owner that is that present, that invested.
“And so I want to model myself as a team owner after Joe Gibbs, because you don’t find someone that is in the Hall of Fame in multiple sports very often. He obviously does it because he gets the best out of his people, and that’s something I really, really admire.”
That’s some pretty sound advice from Gibbs, and it’s easy to see why Hamlin is planning to model himself after Gibbs as he ventures into his own world of owning a team.
While Hamlin and Gibbs have been working together for what seems like forever, their relationship keeps receiving new wrinkles. Continuing during the interview, Harvick asked Hamlin how the two get along nowadays, and it’s evident the No. 11 wheelman is more important to the operation than ever.
“It’s good,” Hamlin explained, regarding his relationship with Gibbs. “I mean, I’ve you know, kind of taken Ty [Gibbs] under my wing. I’d say that you know, as a mentor, I’m probably more of a mentor to Ty than any of the other Gibbs drivers. We travel together. We do a lot of talking. He’s obviously a young up and coming driver. But I know it’s very important for Joe, is Ty’s success. And I think that, you know, he really leans on me to be that, you know, kind of adult figure for Ty here at this racetrack. Obviously that family has gone through some tough times over the years. And so that’s something that I definitely take very seriously is that, you know, this is a kid that’s going to be in the sport for a very long time. He’s going to lead the legacy of Joe Gibbs Racing as a driver for many, many years. What can I do to help him? And knowing that one day, when I turn them the keys, my team will be competing against them.
“It’s my job to give back to the Gibbs family, because they’ve been so good to me over the course of my career. They’re the ones that took a chance on me. I mean, I had nothing when I came in and signed with Joe Gibbs Racing. They believed in me and my ability, and they stuck it out with me when things weren’t all that great at times. So it’s a family. I always thought that, you know, while my dad never really traveled that much anymore, Gibbs was my at-track family. And if I can be that for Ty in any of the other Gibbs families, and then that’d be great.”
Alas, Denny Hamlin wants to get Joe Gibbs another NASCAR title before he ends his driving career with the No. 11 team. We’ll see if he can get the job done and add to his legacy with the team before that time is over.
The post Denny Hamlin recalls best lesson Joe Gibbs taught him appeared first on On3.