NASCAR Cup Series veteran Denny Hamlin recently shed light on the potential of the Next-Gen car, particularly its Garage 56 entry for the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The entry was the combined project of NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports. While he praised NASCAR’s efforts to demonstrate the versatility of the Next Gen car, he definitively ruled out the prospect of his participation in the renowned endurance race after his retirement.
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Hamlin acknowledged the impressive endurance of the Next Gen car, as it managed to complete the full duration of the iconic Le Mans race. However, despite the car’s laudable performance, Hamlin confirmed he will not delve into the 24 Hours of Le Mans following his departure from NASCAR.
Denny Hamlin rules out future participation in the 24 hours of Le Mans
Hamlin made himself pretty clear while speaking on his podcast. He mentioned how, as someone who grew up around ‘Dirt Ovals’, something like a 24-hour endurance race all the way out in Europe was not something that he had in mind.
Hamlin stated, “Never once is it come up on my bucket list of things that I care to do. I don’t know, It’s not what I was born aspiring to do. I understand that it’s a huge race, I get it. I’ve never been super into Le Mans. Simply because I just grew up in Virginia… Go-karts on a dirt oval and all I cared about was NASCAR racing.
He continued, “So I know it’s not on my list. I would love to attend, I think it’d be cool to attend, I like those events because it’s an event. I’m not going there to watch cars go around the racetrack for 24 hours. I’m going there to see well, how does a team, how are they branding their team apparel? How are they doing their cars? You know, how is the team look and how does like just I’m interested in all those kinds of things. Like, what kind of pre-race parties are there like for the event? You know, anything that we can learn as a race team. Hospitality, how are they treating their sponsors… I definitely like to go there for that reason, but as far as participating, no probably not.”
Denny Hamlin shares his thoughts about the NASCAR-Hendrick Motorsports Garage 56 entry
In the same podcast, Hamlin went on to discuss the Garage 56 project. He expressed his views on the project’s success, acknowledging the significant strides NASCAR has made through this endeavor.
Hamlin said, “It certainly was a lot of effort put into it for sure from NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet… It’s such a far-reach of a next-gen like it’s a next-gen car. But there’s not a ton. I don’t know. I mean, maybe 50% of the parts are true next-gen, maybe it’s less maybe it’s more. But generally speaking, this is a stock car built from a next-gen platform…”
“Certainly, a lot of resources was poured into this from NASCAR. I’m sure it costs a ton of money. But you know from the articles I read, it’s more about NASCAR’s trying to gain, get some global interest for our sport…”
Hamlin’s observations make sense considering that NASCAR did end up at Le Mans as a non-competitive car. So besides collecting data for future improvements, it was also an effort to gain foreign traction toward the sport. Overall, the Garage 56 effort has been a major success for NASCAR and HMS. One can only wonder how the situation would be different had they registered as a competitive car.
