Denny Hamlin reveals the most important skill a race car driver needs

Denny Hamlin has been racing in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2006 when he won the Rookie of the Year Award. Since then, he’s had numerous accomplishments, like winning the Daytona 500 three different times.

So, Hamlin knows a thing or two about driving. He also knows that the most important skill for drivers to have if they want to be successful is the race craft itself.

“Race craft,” Denny Hamlin said. “I believe race craft gets you better finishes than what your speed or talent level will. With cars and trucks and everything being so similar nowadays, it’s how do you manage the race? How do you out-think someone, play chess when others are playing checkers, managing those risks.”

In other words, having good race craft can help make up for being a slower or less talented driver. It’s that ability to manage the race that can help to close the gap.

“Race craft is one of the things that is probably easiest to learn. You can’t learn talent, you can’t learn the natural ability to get speed out of a car. You can get better at it, but there are some who just have an innate ability to be really fast. Back in the day, it was guys like Shane Hmiel. And Tyler Reddick nowadays, Kyle Larson, they have so much speed, and it’s the race craft, I really think, (that) gets you the finishes you deserve on any given weekend.”

Denny Hamlin on the possibility of a ‘mic drop’ retirement after winning the NASCAR championship

At second in the Cup Series, 42-year-old Denny Hamlin has a good chance of winning a championship. That would be his first championship on the Cup Series too, giving him the chance to drop the mic and ride off into retirement.

However, Hamlin admitted that there would be a lot of challenges in doing that.

“With contracts the way they are, it would be difficult. You would have to plan it and it would have to be almost in a year you plan to call it quits. That, or have some sort of buyout in your contract,” Hamlin explained.

“So it’s very unlikely, especially in our sport. It’s not like other pro sports where you’re on a team and you’re playing one other team in the Super Bowl. There’s still many, many other drivers out there and many things that can change the outcome of your race. So the odds of you doing it in what you have already planned as your final year? Low, less than 2 percent.”