LAS VEGAS – It's no secret what Denny Hamlin has been through since a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway punched his ticket to the Championship 4 in October. At times this offseason, the three-time Daytona 500 champion wasn’t even sure he wanted to continue racing.
If his repeat triumph in the desert at the Pennzoil 400 on Sunday proved anything, it’s how much better off the sport is with his presence.
Hamlin’s shortcoming at the 2025 Championship Race was a gut punch to every fan in NASCAR, even those who have spent the last two decades hating him. He’s the winningest driver in Cup Series history without a championship, and it’s not even particularly close any more. He led the race by an insurmountable distance with less than three laps to go, but an ill-timed caution led to a fateful decision by crew chief Chris Gayle to take four tires instead of two, ultimately dooming Hamlin’s best chance at the sport’s highest honor.
Hamlin revealed after the race on Sunday that he didn’t harp on the decision from Gayle and the he took blame for not questioning it himself, adding that he hasn’t even spoken to Gayle about the mishap because he knows it won’t change anything.
“I believed in it, too,” Hamlin said. “So I would have been just as guilty. You know what I mean? It wasn't like I was going, ‘Oh, shit, are you sure’? If I would have thought that it was the absolute wrong call, I would have questioned it. I would have said, Are you sure? I would have said, I think track position means the most. Those are the ifs and buts. You just can't live in that world. That's why I didn't want to talk about it because you can't change it.”
To add to the heartbreak, Hamlin’s father Dennis, who had worked tirelessly to provide the foundation to his racing career, was in failing health and it was widely publicized by Hamlin that the 2025 season would be likely be the last Dennis would be alive to see. Dennis was tragically killed in a December 28 house fire that also severely injured Hamlin’s mother Mary Lou, though Mary Lou has been able to make a full recovery and was present for the race on Sunday.
As understandable as it would have been for Hamlin to never race again, you couldn’t help but think that celebrating with his family at the finish line of Las Vegas Motor Speedway was exactly the place the 45-year-old needed to be on Sunday.
“It took a few weeks to feel like driving,” Hamlin said. “Over the last couple weeks, I definitely regained my love of it, got refocused. These are great opportunities for us. This is a family sport. My family obviously had so much sacrifice to help me get here.
“It's great Mom gets to see this. I know Dad's still saying, That's my boy. Hell of a day”