Hamlin, Gibbs praise JGR effort at NHMS

As Denny Hamlin and team owner Joe Gibbs raised the win banner from the No. 11 team's victory at New Hampshire, both took time to thank those in the organization for all the work this season.

Hamlin's victory in the Overton's 301 was not only his first of the season, but the first for Gibbs since last November. It automatically qualifies Hamlin for the playoffs in seven weeks, where he will again try to capture his first championship.

"We got our work cut out for us," said Gibbs to the group. "We're getting ready for the playoffs, and so we need stage wins, we need wins period for all of our cars."

When Hamlin took the microphone, he thanked the crew members who worked quickly and efficiently to switch the engine from the primary car he had crashed into the backup car. By doing so before qualifying, Hamlin was able to keep his sixth-place starting spot.

"That was huge for us this weekend," he said. "There's no question we would not have won if it wasn't for the hard work that the guys did to get the engines changed."

He continued, "The success that we had this weekend, to me, was starting to get a lot like what we had in 2015 where all the cars were competitive, so if one guy faltered there was another there to pick up the pieces and win the race. So, I think as a team when we're successful it's because all of cars are running really well."

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Hamlin capitalized late in the race when one teammate, Kyle Busch, was penalized for speeding and taken out of contention. He then tracked down and passed another teammate, Matt Kenseth, who was on older tires.

The victory was not only a much-needed one for the company, it served as validation as Hamlin pointed out how far his team has come.

"You guys in the shop have done an amazing job of catching up the gap for us this year," said Hamlin. "Like Joe said, we struggled with speed early in the year, and in my opinion, I thought us personally with the 11 car, was a 10th-to-12th-place car to start the year.

"And we have just slowly chipped away, chipped away to really we're a top five car every week (and) can contend for a win at every type of racetrack, and when your competition has issues or anything like that, we're able to capitalize."

Hamlin noted how all 30 of his wins have come with Gibbs. It's been a career Hamlin said he never envisioned as a "short track" guy joining the company.

Gibbs closed the gathering by telling all those in attendance, "Let's get some more banners." And after he and Hamlin hung the most recent one of the wall he then playfully shouted, "Hey! Get back to work!"

You can watch the full video of Hamlin and Gibbs below:

With every win, we raise a banner to celebrate. Coach Gibbs &@DennyHamlinthanked the entire team yesterday for the Loudon victory!#NASCARpic.twitter.com/cusU4zIviJ— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing)July 19, 2017