{"id":36726,"date":"2021-11-04T17:05:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T22:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=36726"},"modified":"2021-11-08T16:20:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T22:20:26","slug":"nascar-cup-series-championship-4-media-day-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/04\/nascar-cup-series-championship-4-media-day-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 Media Day Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin hopes to fashion NASCAR Cup title out of hectic life<\/b><\/p>\n

PHOENIX, Ariz. \u2013 Out of chaos, Denny Hamlin hopes to be a NASCAR Cup Series champion at long last.<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, speaks to the media during the 2021 NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center on November 04, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Sean Gardner)<\/p><\/div>\n

The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota freely acknowledges his life is a hectic scramble with no small share of controversy, and it\u2019s no different with Sunday\u2019s Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the offing. <\/p>\n

Hamlin has to balance family life with racing life, which includes not only competing for the series championship for owner Joe Gibbs but also his fledgling ownership with NBA superstar Michael Jordan of another Cup team, 23XI Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I get up every morning and take my kids to school at 7:30?,\u201d Hamlin asked rhetorically during Championship 4 Media Day interviews Thursday at the Phoenix Convention Center. \u201cHow do I go to 23XI and work for a couple days in the middle of the week during a Playoff run?<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, speaks to the media during the 2021 NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center on November 04, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Sean Gardner)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI live in chaos. My life is chaos, and I thrive under chaos\u2026 The more (crap) that is stirred up around me, the more I come at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Controversy drives Hamlin. Though Alex Bowman wrecked Hamlin and went on to win last Sunday\u2019s race at Martinsville Speedway, it was Hamlin who was roundly booed by fans in the grandstands for the harsh nature of his post-race comments.<\/p>\n

Hamlin called Bowman a \u201chack.\u201d Bowman gleefully made T-shirts sporting the comment. To Hamlin, it was just another day in the life\u2014and motivation to provide an \u201cin-your-face\u201d to his detractors.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s fuel,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cI\u2019ve got so much fuel in my tank right now. There\u2019s a lot of motivation there. I really wanted to make a pretty strong statement at Martinsville. Starting in the back, going to the back again and driving all the way to the front and winning that race would be like the old foot on the throat heading into this weekend, right?<\/p>\n

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Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, and WTA player Bethanie Mattek-Sands take a selfie during the 2021 NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center on November 04, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Sean Gardner)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI feel like that momentum was taken from us, but again, the momentum in my head swings back around to now I\u2019m ultra-motivated, because I love the feeling of just like proving people wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statistically, Hamlin has been the fastest of the Championship 4 drivers on tracks that feature NASCAR\u2019s 750-horsepower competition package. That\u2019s a source of confidence this year.<\/p>\n

More important, however, is Hamlin\u2019s evolution as a driver and a person since 2010, when he held the championship lead entering the final race but lost the title to Jimmie Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, I\u2019m more comfortable (today),\u201d Hamlin acknowledged. \u201cThat\u2019s not even a question. I\u2019m comfortable in who I am. Back in 2010, I didn\u2019t have the big race wins that I\u2019ve had. I certainly know that I\u2019m a championship-caliber driver. There\u2019s not a question in my mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cCircumstances have not always worked out in my favor. Performance hasn\u2019t always been good enough. But certainly, we\u2019re as deserving as any. In 2010, I would have said, \u2018Am I really good enough to do this?\u2019 I had a ton of wins, and in 2010 I was battling Jimmie, and things out of my control took us from locking it up to losing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I got in my own head, and I messed up. I just wasn\u2019t as comfortable as what I am now.\u201d<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/DennyHamlin2021Champ4MediaDay.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Chase Elliott brings recent experience to quest for second straight title<\/b><\/p>\n

Two of the Championship 4 drivers\u2014Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr.\u2014have NASCAR Cup Series championships to their credit, but Elliott is the only one who can go back-to-back with a victory in Sunday\u2019s season finale at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

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Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, speaks to the media during the 2021 NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center on November 04, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Sean Gardner)<\/p><\/div>\n

If Elliott can win a second straight title, he\u2019ll join fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson as the only Cup competitors in the 21st century to win consecutive championships. Johnson won five straight from 2006 through 2010.<\/p>\n

The last driver before Johnson to go back-to-back was another Hendrick stalwart\u2014Jeff Gordon in 1997 and 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, having gone through the motions last year, we learned a lot about ourselves and about what\u2019s important,\u201d Elliott said. \u201cHow to perform in a big moment is a nice thing you can carry with you forward. On the same token, we didn\u2019t have any of that experience last year, and it worked out OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like, for us, we just dive into what matters, and the guy who goes the fastest and runs the best race and executes a good day on Sunday will be rewarded, and that\u2019s where our focus is.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ElliottChamp4MediaDay.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Despite his nine victories, Kyle Larson doesn\u2019t see himself as the favorite<\/b><\/p>\n

Unlike all three of his Championship 4 opponents, Kyle Larson hasn\u2019t ever won a NASCAR Cup Series event at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

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Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, speaks to the media during the 2021 NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center on November 04, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Sean Gardner)<\/p><\/div>\n

In fact, this year\u2019s three other title aspirants collectively have been victorious in three of the last four races at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert\u2014Denny Hamlin in the 2019 Playoff race, Chase Elliott in last year\u2019s season finale and Martin Truex Jr. this past spring.<\/p>\n

But Larson\u2019s status as a non-winner at Phoenix can hardly be deemed disqualifying when it comes to handicapping the championship race. All of his series-best nine victories this season have come on tracks where he had never won before.<\/p>\n

Of greater concern is Larson\u2019s performance on tracks that feature NASCAR\u2019s 750-horsepower competition package. The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was seventh at Phoenix in March, fifth and 14th in two Martinsville races, 18th and sixth in two Richmond events and seventh at one-mile New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, speaks to the media during the 2021 NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center on November 04, 2021 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Sean Gardner)<\/p><\/div>\n

Those numbers don\u2019t portend well for a championship outcome, and that\u2019s why Larson doesn\u2019t consider himself a clear favorite to win the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think you can look at any of the four of us and really pick a favorite,\u201d Larson said. \u201cA lot of the races I won this year are the 550 package, high-downforce stuff. You could look at it maybe that’s what would hinder me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been good at the 750 races, too. I think it’s pretty equal. Yeah, I’m excited to compete with these three other guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/KyleLarsonChamp4MediaDay.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Martin Truex Jr. Interview:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/MartinTruexJr2021Champ4MediaDay.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin hopes to fashion NASCAR Cup title out of hectic life PHOENIX, Ariz. \u2013 Out of chaos, Denny Hamlin hopes to be a NASCAR Cup Series champion at long last. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota freely acknowledges his life is a hectic scramble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":36735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-36726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1351332333-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-9ym","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36726"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36759,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36726\/revisions\/36759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}