Denny Hamlin is going to be a father for the third time. Needless to say, he’s excited. So much so that he could miss this Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.
If he does miss it, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will be at the hospital with his fiancée, Jordan Fish. Her due date is June 1, the same day NASCAR will host the Cracker Barrel 400 at the 1.33-mile tri-oval.
“I can’t miss it,” Hamlin said during an interview with Dustin along on Saturday. “I certainly got to be there for her and that’s obviously the biggest priority. I just wish she would hang on a little bit longer.”
Nashville would mark Hamlin’s 700th career Cup start. He would be the only 22nd driver in the series history to hit that mark. But if he misses the race, Joe Gibbs Racing’s reserve driver Ryan Truex will fill in for the Tampa, Florida, native.
Denny Hamlin will also skip a tire test that he was expected to do this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. Instead, JGR newcomer Chase Briscoe will wheel the No. 11 Camry at the test. As of today, Hamlin sits sixth in the championship standings with 390 points, while Briscoe is 11th with 314 points to his name.
As per the rules, a driver has to take part in all regular-season races to be able to qualify for the postseason. However, NASCAR has been known to hand waivers to its drivers for medical reasons. Here is all you need to know about NASCAR’s current waiver system.
The 14th race of the season will stream live on Amazon Prime Video, 7 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to exclusive radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
23XI Racing’s development driver reflects on growing up having Denny Hamlin as his role model
Denny Hamlin is one of the longest-tenured drivers in NASCAR right now. He has bagged a total of 56 career Cup Series victories, including wins in crown jewel races like the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, and the Coca-Cola 600.
Needless to say, several younger drivers look up to Hamlin as their role models. Corey Heim, a development driver for 23XI Racing (which Denny Hamlin owns), is one of them. Reflecting on how much he adores his boss, Heim said (quoted by The Sportsnaut),
“A lot of people know that growing up, Denny was my idol. It means the world to have grown up idolizing him. Never knowing if I would make it to this level. But here I am and I’ve got him as one of my best supporters so far.”
Heim is currently one of the top prospects for Denny Hamlin’s team. Over the past four seasons, the 22-year-old speedster won 12 Xfinity Series races, including the season-opening Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Last year, he made three Cup starts, one of which was with 23XI at Nashville on June 30.
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Edited by Tushhita Barua
