Denny Hamlin was entertained watching the NASCAR Cup Series race from Mexico City at home and was very adamant that sitting it out after fiancé Jordan Fish gave birth to their third child and first son earlier in the week.
First, Fish and Jameson Drew are doing well, but Hamlin said it was a complicated birth. That combined with the logistics of racing in Mexico just made it easier to miss the race.
“Truthfully, before Thursday I was going to go to the weekend as scheduled,” Hamlin said. “The labor was tremendous and we knew would have to be there longer than normal and I just said there’s no way I could leave in the next 36 hours, which is what I needed to go there and do the job correctly.
“If we were racing at Darlington I would have been there on race day. It was just bad timing from a logistical standpoint. You have 12 hours of logistics just to get to Mexico and it didn’t make any sense to me knowing that those few days after can be a fragile time and I can’t just hop back in the plane and easily come home once I’m there.”
Ryan Truex raced the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 in his place and NASCAR issued Hamlin a waiver to remain playoff eligible while retaining all playoff points earned thus far.
Why ‘Jameson Drew,’ by the way?
“I’m James (Dennis) and that’s James’s son, Jameson,” Hamlin said. “And Drew, we wanted to keep J.D. as part of it. J.D. Gibbs was a big part of my getting here to the Cup Series. James Dean was the car owner I drove for in Late Models that got me the equipment to win all of those races to get seen by J.D Gibbs. I’m J.D., so we are just keeping it going.”
Hamlin was able to watch the Prime Sports broadcast for the first time this year and came away impressed too.
“From a broadcast standpoint I was entertained,” Hamlin said. “Even when the racing wasn’t super entertaining, what I liked was the broadcast gave you another story they were talking about. Their production was fantastic and their pre- and post-race show kept me engaged.
“There were lulls, but that’s just part of it because sometimes someone wins by 16 seconds and that’s okay. I think they do a good job of telling the stories and getting you excited about strategy and showing how one driver may catch another and be on the lookout for it. They are doing a great job so far.”
It wasn’t like Hamlin was on vacation but his 44-year-old body appreciated the time out of the race car this past weekend.
“I’m older so my body has to go through a reset every seven days,” Hamlin said. “I get to where it’s pretty good by the time we get to Friday and Saturday. But then by Sunday I mess it up again. I go through that cycle all over again. It was good to have a week break. I had the same break everyone else did a month or so ago. I can tell you that the second week off is phenomenal if we can get that back.”
He’s ready to go this weekend too.
“It wasn’t like I was sitting around hanging by the pool,” Hamlin said. “I did work. When it came to the simulator and meetings, I missed all that stuff. Obviously, the focus was on her and being in the hospital longer than normal. I felt like I was a little rusty this week in the sim, it took me an extra 30 minutes to get back in it, but once I did it felt good and feel like I will fire off well today.”
