In the first race since the iconic deal between Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan was announced, all eyes were on Hamlin and Bubba Wallace, as the fans wanted to know whether the latter will implement any changes to his performance in the wake of the deal.

Wallace is not in the Playoffs’ contention, but the pressure will be big on him to prove his new team owners right. However, Hamlin showed more than just satisfaction in Bubba’s qualities as a NASCAR Cup Series driver.

“I think that he’s outperformed his equipment. He’s in his third or fourth year in the Cup Series, still got a lot to learn. He’s proven himself, to me, out on the race track, is he’s someone that overachieves a lot,” Hamlin said in his interview after Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Hamlin focused on getting Bubba Wallace the ‘winning equipment’

Hamlin and Jordan have both expressed that they are in conversation with potential partners who can provide Bubba Wallace with the equipment he needs to convert his talent into race wins. The No. 11 driver reiterated that desire.

At the same time, Hamlin himself could play a role in shaping Wallace’s career. “Hopefully, we can get him race-winning equipment if we can do that. I can help mentor here and there. But ultimately he’s gonna grow as a driver and he’s gonna continue to get better,” Hamlin expressed.

Hamlin admitted that building a team from scratch is a careful process. However, he has seen, first-hand, how a young team was built into a winning team. He hopes to execute learnings from his current team’s owner, Joe Gibbs, and his family.

Hamlin plans to implement the JGR model

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“For us, it’s gonna take time to build this team to where it needs to be. I feel that we have a great opportunity and have great resources to do that,” Hamlin added.

“These things don’t happen overnight. It takes time. The good news is I’ve kind of watched how Joe and his kids have built JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) over the last 15 years. You’ve got someone there who you can really model yourself after,” Hamlin said further.

At Las Vegas on Sunday, Wallace finished down in 28th, and such has been the story for him this year. With Hamlin and Jordan’s confidence and a better car in sight, he must be itching to get into 2021.

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