Denny Hamlin races at Nashville hoping birth of his third child holds off
Associated Press
LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Denny Hamlin chose to race Sunday night in the NASCAR Cup Series at Nashville Superspeedway to try to take advantage of his starting spot spot beside pole-sitter Chase Briscoe.
Whether Hamlin would chase his third win this season had been in question with his third child, a boy, due Sunday.
Hamlin said Saturday he didn't have a timeline for a final decision. His biggest challenge is needing an eight-hour window to travel home. He came into this race as the BetMGM Sportsbook's odds' on favorite to win. He's currently sixth in the points race for Joe Gibbs Racing.
He practiced and qualified well, so Hamlin crawled inside his No. 11 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor.
Tyler Reddick beat Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status. Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday that his family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25.
Reddick followed up that delivery by racing and finished 26th that night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Punishment and more penalties possible?
AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and also had to perform a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday's practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and then the scanning station before practice and qualifying.
Allmendinger also lost pit stall selection, and his crew chief Jaron Antley was ejected for the rest of this weekend with his hard card confiscated.
The No. 66 Ford of Chad Finchum failed inspection twice leading to engineer Austin Webb's ejection. The Garage 66 team also lost pit stall selection.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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