CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Denny Hamlin said Tuesday that he's roughly 50 percent recovered from offseason knee surgery, but that the relatively lengthy healing process should not hinder his readiness for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
Hamlin, 35, underwent successful surgery Nov. 30 after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing basketball in early September. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who competed in the final 11 races of the season without an absence, said his recovery was still a "day by day" process.
"I'm not where I want or should be right now, but I'm getting there, like every day," Hamlin said during the Joe Gibbs Racing portion of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour. "I went on vacation and that kind of set me back a little bit and then now I'm starting to get back in the groove of things."
Hamlin said the method of surgery differed from an ACL operation he underwent on his left knee during the 2010 season. He added that while the style of surgery may make him stronger in the long run, the short-term recovery process might be more drawn out.
With little more than three weeks before cars hit the track at Daytona International Speedway ahead of the Feb. 21 Daytona 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Hamlin said he wasn't worried about any sort of delay for the start of his season.
"There's no concern about Daytona," Hamlin said. "I definitely could get in a car and do what I need to do right now. I think the challenge for me would probably be getting in the car, (that) would probably be the toughest part, but I was able to get in one at JGR last week, so I think everything will be fine. It's just once I get my range of motion back, it'll be fine. I'd say 50 percent's probably fair."
Coach Joe Gibbs, Hamlin's car owner since his Sprint Cup debut in 2005, also struck a positive note. "I think it's been a lot slower coming back, but I think he feels good about it," Gibbs said. "We don't see any issues, so he should be ready to go at Daytona."
The recuperation process did have an unintended side effect, halting an opportunity for Hamlin to compete in his first Rolex 24 at Daytona, the star-studded opening race for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Hamlin was in line to join part-time NASCAR competitors Boris Said and Kenny Habul in the Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS entry for the 24-hour sports car race Jan. 30-31.
"I was closer than what Joe was willing to think I was," Hamlin said with a grin. "I think I was going to run it, I'd verbally told someone I was going to run it, but then Joe reminded me and he talked to my doctor and said that I just wasn't ready to do it. I agree with them. I needed some more time to get ready for the season, and when you have the Rolex 24 and driver changes and you've got to get in and out real fast, I just wasn't ready for that."