Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Denny Hamlin, who returns to his home track this weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Hamlin enters the final regular season race of the Sprint Cup Series season with two wins (the Daytona 500 and Watkins Glen) and is fifth in the series standings for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Q: What is an errand or chore in your daily life people might be surprised to learn you do yourself?

A: It’s not really an actual chore, but I would say Pilates. I have to go (to keep his back healthy). It’s not that masculine, but it’s effective. I always have to work on my flexibility to help my back, and Pilates helps the most.

Q: If you could do any race over again, which race would you choose?

A: Wow. Well, Homestead 2010 (when he lost the championship to Jimmie Johnson). No doubt. That’s a pretty easy one, right?

Q: The longest race of the year is 600 miles. How long of a race could you physically handle without a driver change?

A: I think it’s more about time than distance. We could do six hours. But don’t get any ideas, please. We shouldn’t be running more than two hours. Let’s try to work out a Coca-Cola 400 at Charlotte. History is great, but ratings are greater.

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Q: Let’s say president of NASCAR was an elected position voted on by the drivers – and you decided to run. What would one of your campaign promises be?

A: To consolidate our season schedule. Start in March, end in September. We do that by having mid-week races. We can still do 30-something races, but everything is two-day shows and we’re going to show up and knock out two races in one week. And we’re going to do that all summer and get good ratings – there’s nothing on TV then and we should be dominating.

Q: At the start of this year, exactly 2,900 drivers had ever raced in the Sprint Cup Series. Where do you rank among those 2,900?

A: Well, 1% is about 30. So I’d like to say I’m in the top 1%.

Q: What do you think your reputation is – and is that reputation accurate?

A: I think my reputation among peers is probably different than my reputation among fans. My peers know me pretty well and so it’s fairly accurate. I think I’m respected among my peers.

I’d say fans are a little more skewed because they only see you for a brief second. They might see you as they’re yelling at you because you’re not stopping for an autograph, but what they don’t know is I’m rushing back to have lunch with my daughter. So they see it as, “Oh, you’re an ass.” But that’s not true.

Yeah, I’m not that outgoing – but it’s not cockiness, it’s being an introvert.

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Q: A famous chef wants you to invest in the new restaurant he’s opening, but he wants you to pick the cuisine. What type of food would your restaurant serve?

A: I’m such a huge fan of Japanese-style food, I’d lean toward that. I’d go with Hibachi, but we’d make sure we’d have sushi covered as well. We’d have everything covered. We don’t need the whole show – that’s a little hokey – but we’re going to serve the best food. You want to go to Asia? You’re coming to our place. (Laughs)

Q: What is the most daring thing you’ve done outside of racing?

A: I’ve taken quite a few risks on the ski slopes. Like if I’m a green-level skier, I’m going on the blacks just because it’s hard and a challenge. That’s probably not the best idea.

Q: In a move to generate more excitement, NASCAR decides in an upcoming race they’re going to require every driver to have a passenger in the car. You get to pick the passenger. Who do you choose?

A: I want one of those co-pilots from a rally car race. That way they could get me through traffic. Especially in the draft, they could look around and say, “OK, shoot for that gap!”

Then if you crashed or something, you could blame them.

That’s right!

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Q: How often do you talk inside the car without hitting the radio button?

A: All the time. All the time. A lot of it is saying, “You idiot!” to myself. I’m hard on everyone else on the radio; I’m hard on myself off the radio. (Laughs)

Q: Who will win the Sprint Cup in 2021?

A: I will.

Q: I’ve been asking each driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last one was with William Byron, and he wanted to know what your rookie year was like in the Cup Series. What challenges did you face and how fun was it?

A: I think the reason I was successful in my rookie season is because I was having a lot of fun. As I got older, I took racing more and more seriously. I remember going into Homestead with a chance to win in my rookie season, and I don’t even remember being stressed. I was just having fun. But in 2010, I was ultra-stressed and I blocked everyone out. So just being able to have fun and forget all the stress and expectations, that’s what led to the success.

The next interview is with Danica Patrick. Do you have a question I can ask her?

Money aside and all things equal, would you rather be racing in IndyCar or NASCAR?

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck