Denny Hamlin to miss NASCAR's first international race after birth of son
Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Denny Hamlin will miss NASCAR's first international race of the modern era to remain in North Carolina following the birth of his child.
Ryan Truex will replace him Sunday in Mexico City.
'See you guys in Pocono,' Hamlin posted on social media. 'We are happy to announce the birth of our son. Everyone is doing well. My main priority is to be here at home for Jordan and our family over the next few days when she is able to go home and we transition to life as a family of five.'
Hamlin and fiancee Jordan Fish now have three children, two daughters and a son born Wednesday. Hamlin had been on baby watch the last 12 days as Fish went nearly two weeks past her predicted due date.
He had planned to get out of the car at Michigan last Sunday if she went into labor early in the race, but when the first stage passed with no word, he went on to score his third win of the season. The victory was the 57th of his career and made him the all-time winningest driver at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Through 15 races this season, Hamlin ranks third in the overall Cup Series standings.
Truex, younger brother of former JGR full-time driver Martin Truex Jr., is Gibbs' reserve driver. His last Cup Series start was in 2014 and he has 26 starts at NASCAR's top level.
Hamlin will need NASCAR to grant him a waiver to be eligible to compete in the playoffs for the Cup Series championship. NASCAR during the offseason tightened the rules for granting waivers, but said it would permit a driver skipping an event for the birth of a child.
The 44-year-old Hamlin will snap his streak of 406 consecutive starts. Hamlin last missed a race in 2014 at California Speedway because of an eye irritation.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
22 minutes ago
- New York Times
Olivier Giroud: Trust Christian Pulisic's decision over Gold Cup absence
Christian Pulisic has been backed by former teammate Olivier Giroud as the ruckus over the U.S. men's national team star's summer absence continues to rumble on. Pulisic has defended his decision to miss the Concacaf Gold Cup, the regional championship in which head coach Mauricio Pochettino's depleted squad will begin its campaign against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday. Pulisic cited the need to rest following an intense period with AC Milan in Serie A, which has seen him appear in more than 100 games over the past two seasons. Advertisement His choice sparked heavy criticism, most notably from former national team forward Landon Donovan, prompting Pulisic to speak out on a CBS podcast this week explaining his choice. Giroud, the LAFC striker and 2018 World Cup winner with France, became close friends with Pulisic during their shared time at Chelsea and Milan. He insisted that national team fans should trust their 26-year-old talisman a year out from a home World Cup. 'I just respect his decision, because he is someone very responsible and very mature,' Giroud told The Athletic. 'He is not a guy who is going to cheat, he's got a great mentality and that's why I loved him – a great person and a great football player. I would never go against his decision and I know he had a tough busy year at Milan and I am well placed to know how much the effort can be. The pressure, the expectation. If he feels like he needs some rest and there is a World Cup coming…' Giroud referenced the grueling soccer calendar and admits he has concerns for leading players, especially those taking part in both this summer's Club World Cup – LAFC opens its campaign against Chelsea in Atlanta on Monday – and next summer's World Cup on either side of a full domestic schedule. 'The players, I have the feeling they will play for two years nonstop, maybe grab five weeks total, in two years, of holidays. I am worried about the health of the players,' Giroud said. That was a core part of the case Pulisic made to Pochettino. The player did offer to play in last week's USMNT friendlies – 2-1 defeat to Turkey and a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Switzerland – but was told Pochettino wanted to have one cohesive roster for the summer. 'Towards the second half and the end of the season, my body just started talking to me, and my mind,' Pulisic told CBS' Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola, all former U.S. national team players. 'I started to think, you know, what's going to be best for me leading into next year and going into the World Cup? Is that to play eight more games, get no rest at all, go straight into preseason and then grind another year, and go straight into the World Cup? That's not what I felt was best for my body.' Advertisement Giroud insisted he expects Pulisic to prove his doubters wrong when it matters, a year from now. 'For sure (the U.S. is lucky to have him), he is a leader on the pitch,' Giroud said, 'They have got great players, but Christian is the man, he is the main face.'
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NASCAR grants Denny Hamlin a playoff waiver as he's set to miss Sunday's Mexico City race due to birth of son
Denny Hamlin will have all his playoff points in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs even though he's missing Sunday's race in Mexico City. NASCAR granted Hamlin a waiver to keep his playoff eligibility on Friday after he announced Thursday that he would miss the race. Hamlin and fiancee Jordan Fish welcomed a son this week. The couple now has three children together. Ryan Truex, the brother of former Joe Gibbs Racing driver and Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., will drive Hamlin's No. 11 for JGR in Mexico City. Advertisement Hamlin had been open about missing a race if necessary for the birth of his son. Truex had been available as a standby driver in recent weekends as Hamlin and Fish awaited their third child's arrival. NASCAR tweaked its playoff waiver rules ahead of the 2025 season and said that a driver who skipped a race and made the playoffs wouldn't be able to keep the playoff points he accrued in the regular season. However, the birth of a child is listed as a reason that NASCAR would give a waiver. If, for example, Kyle Larson missed the Coca-Cola 600 for a second-straight season after racing in the Indianapolis 500, he would have lost been forced to start the postseason without any playoff points. Hamlin won last week's race at Michigan for his third win of the season. He previously won at Martinsville and Darlington. Hamlin is currently third in the regular season standings behind William Byron and Larson and has scored 18 playoff points through 15 races. Only Larson, with 23, has more. Sunday's race in Mexico City will be the first Cup Series race in the country. The race is held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the same track where Formula 1 annually hosts its grand prix. However, the Cup Series will compete on a slightly modified track with a different section around Turn 4.
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Caitlin Clark to return from injury for Fever-Liberty rematch Saturday
After missing three weeks with a quad injury, Caitlin Clark will return Saturday for the Indiana Fever against the New York Liberty, the team announced Friday. The Fever host the Liberty for the second time this season; Clark injured her quad during the first game, a 90-88 loss on May 24. 'She's working her way back, I feel like today was better than yesterday in terms of movement, balance,' coach Stephanie White said after practice Friday. White also said forward Sophie Cunningham is probable to return Saturday. Cunningham has been out since May 30 with an ankle injury. she's back 🔥 Caitlin Clark is ready to play tomorrow against New York. — Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 13, 2025 Clark missed five games with the injury, the first of her professional career. Indiana has gone 2-3 in her absence, including two losses to projected lottery teams, Washington and Connecticut. The arrival of backup point guard Aari McDonald on a hardship contract helped stem the tide, but the Fever struggled to be competitive in their latest 77-58 defeat to Atlanta. Nevertheless, they have risen from eighth to seventh in the WNBA standings during this stretch. Advertisement 'There was imaging done to tell that my leg is okay … so I can find confidence in that that we know we weren't able to find anything or see anything, and that was kind of my all clear,' Clark said. 'Then honestly, just sprinting. As you know, change of direction and sprinting in the game of basketball, that's the biggest part of it. So, feeling comfortable to be able to do those types of things and those types of movements. I've been doing that for a little bit now, and I feel really confident in that.' Clark's star status continues to drive ticket sales; according to data from Vivid Seats, tickets to Saturday's game against the Liberty are now 35 percent more in demand relative to the first Indiana game against New York, where Clark suffered her injury. As of publication, the average price for Clark's return is $276. Saturday's game against New York is Indiana's penultimate Commissioner's Cup contest. The Fever need a win (and more results to go their way Tuesday) to pass the Liberty in the cup standings and earn the Eastern Conference bid to the final. As the Fever shore up their rotation with the returns of Clark and Cunningham, they are expected to be without veteran DeWanna Bonner against New York, who has been away from the team for personal reasons. Indiana released McDonald from her hardship contract Friday, as the team now has ten active players without her. In her four games this season, Clark is averaging 19.0 points and 9.3 assists per game while shooting uncharacteristically low from 3-point range and the foul line (31.4 percent and 75 percent, respectively). Cunningham has chipped in 6.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
