Denny Hamlin has been on baby watch for two race weekends now but if it extends into a third, he isn’t going to make the trip into Mexico City this week. ‘
For one, the impending first son, but third child of Hamlin and fiancé Jordan Fish, has not arrived yet according to the longtime racer during a Tuesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio with Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds.
👶🏼 @dennyhamlin joined #SXMOnTrack and gave an update on his racing plans for Mexico City if his third child hasn’t arrived yet.
🗣️ “The racing will come second this week.”
More → https://t.co/MKhd9eLpQA pic.twitter.com/K07zqBrfPe
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) June 10, 2025
“Not yet,” Hamlin said. “Hanging tough. He’s quite like his father, very hard-headed and stubborn it appears.”
The past two weeks at Nashville and Michigan had Ryan Truex on standby to get in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 if Hamlin had to leave at any point during the race weekend. In fact, if Fish went into labor before 50 laps to go on Sunday at Michigan, Hamlin would have gotten out of the car.
He went on to win his third race of the season on Sunday.
This time, however, due to the logistical challenges of racing in another country, Hamlin will not leave with the industry if they haven’t had their son yet.
“If she hasn’t had [the baby] by the time I need to leave or Mexico, I’m not going to go to Mexico,” Hamlin said. “I think that’s the proper thing to do, but really just letting her call the shots. I think that’s the best thing, when her body and her mind says it’s time, then that’s what we will do.”
“Ultimately, I need to be there for her during, post, and all those things. So, just going to make sure I spend the proper time with her, and obviously the racing will come second this week.”
Read more: NASCAR Michigan takeaways
Hamlin already had three wins this season so he is locked into the playoffs. NASCAR has already signaled that it will grant playoff waivers to miss a race for drivers who miss races for childbirth reasons. So for Hamlin, it would just be a missed chance to add playoff points and a hit to the regular season championship, which also pays playoff points.
Hamlin is third in the standings and 82 points out of the lead. The top-10 drivers at the end of the regular season all earn additional playoff points in addition to the five each they earn per win and one each earned for stage wins:
- 15
- 10
- 8
- 7
- 6
- 5
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
