Denny Hamlin, a 56-time race-winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, could potentially find himself missing the running of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, as he and his fiancée, Jordan Fish, await the birth of their third child.
The 44-year-old driver managed to qualify his No. 11 Progress Insurance Toyota Camry XSE on the outside of the front row for Sunday’s 400-mile contest in Lebanon, Tennessee, but should Fish go into labor on Sunday, Hamlin would step away from his driving duties.
“I can’t miss it,” Hamlin said during a media scrum 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.”
Ryan Truex, the official reserve driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, is on standby, should Hamlin have to head back home to witness the birth of his son.
Truex, the younger brother of former NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex, Jr., has spent the last couple of seasons racing part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has managed to secure three victories over the last two seasons.
If needed, Truex is present at Nashville Superspeedway and prepared to jump in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE for the Cracker Barrel 400, in what would undoubtedly be the biggest opportunity of his career in NASCAR’s National Series.
The 33-year-old driver does a bunch of simulation work for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series but has never been behind the wheel of NASCAR’s seventh-generation car in a race situation.
Truex, a 26-time starter in the NASCAR Cup Series, hasn’t attempted to make an event at NASCAR’s top-level since the 2019 DAYTONA 500, and last competed in an event in the series since Chicagoland Speedway in September of 2014.
Obviously, should Hamlin miss Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, he will need to apply for a waiver to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, which would likely be awarded to him, as the birth of a child is one of the special provisions in which NASCAR typically grants waivers with not additional penalty.
Should Hamlin take the green flag in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Nashville Superspeedway, it will mark a landmark 700th start for the driver, but should he miss the event, it will mark the first time since 2014 that Hamlin has missed out on an event.
Additionally, Hamlin was scheduled to participate in a Goodyear Tire Test at Iowa Speedway on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will instead hand over the driving duties to Chase Briscoe, his teammate.
Hamlin enters Nashville sitting sixth in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, with two victories throughout the opening 13 events of 2025.
