By Matt Courson, Staff Writer
SONOMA, Calif. — Denny Hamlin will pilot his No. 11 FedEx Camry around Darlington Raceway in September during throwback weekend while also honoring a NASCAR legend, Darrell Waltrip.
On Friday at Sonoma Raceway, Hamlin was joined by Waltrip and NASCAR on FOX commentator Mike Joy to unveil the throwback scheme that will debut in the Southern 500 on Labor Day Weekend.
“This was a pretty simple [design] for me. Right around the time FedEx announced to me they were gonna let me design anything I wanted for my throwback scheme, was right around the time Darrell announced his retirement and I was like ‘gosh, this is a simple one for me’.
“He carried the banner for the No. 11 car for so many years, and with the whole 90s theme and everything, I was like well, he’s the one for me and I’d love to announce it at Sonoma for his final race.”
“This was one of my favorite paint schemes that I raced, and what made this special to me is that this was my car. This was my team; it started in 1991. We had some pretty good days with this car, and of course my favorite number even though it’s 17, but I always loved car No. 11. It’s the winningest number in NASCAR.”
Hamlin actually designed two potential paint schemes, and the winner would be decided by a vote from shop employees at Joe Gibbs Racing. The winning scheme just also happened to be Hamlin’s favorite of the two.
“In 2016 when I won Daytona 500, FedEx obviously gave me an opportunity for the July Dayton race to design my own paint scheme. There were no limits and when I won again this year, they extended that same offer and I got to thinking what I wanted to do this year. This has been a process of a couple months.
“I emailed FedEx and said, ‘here’s the ideas that I have, I have two that I really like’ and they thought it would be a great idea for the shop to go and vote on it. It’s a great way to honor someone who’s been a big influence for myself and a lot of people who have been in NASCAR. He’s dedicated 40 years of his life to NASCAR and we can’t say thank you enough, and this is just a small way for us to do that.”