Remembering Dennis Hamlin, the father whose sacrifices powered Denny Hamlin's journey

Denny Hamlin's father, James Dennis Hamlin Sr., tragically died during a house fire. First responders quickly arrived at his Gaston County home in North Carolina, but found Dennis and his wife, Mary Lou, with 'catastrophic injuries'.

On Monday, County EMS released a press release confirming the 75-year-old's demise, while it was revealed that Lou was receiving critical treatment for her burn injuries.

The tragic loss comes after Hamlin revealed that his father was battling a life-threatening ailment during the playoffs. The Cup Series veteran had an emotional post-race interview after securing the final four spot at Las Vegas, noting that it was the last time that his father could catch him winning it all.

Dennis owned a trailer and worked as a service manager for Great Dane Trailers. He later opened up his own Hitch store with his son as his assistant. Hamlin grew up watching races with his father, but it was his first try at go-karts that convinced his father of his potential.

To support his son's aspirations, Dennis opened a family-owned race team in a spare bay of his trailer business. However, the cost of maintaining such an outfit grew as Hamlin transitioned from four-cylinder Mini Stocks to Late Model racing. Volunteer crew and the generosity of fellow car owners helped the cause, but Hamlin's father ended up mortgaging his rancher-style house to make ends meet.

"I wanted to be able to sit in my rocking chair and say I did everything I could to get him there. I didn’t want no stone unturned,” Denny Hamlin said in an interview with Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record in 2006.

Denny Hamlin eventually landed a part-time schedule in the Xfinity Series before launching a 20-year career at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006.

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"We just kept fighting": Denny Hamlin speaks on his parents' sacrifices

Last year, Denny Hamlin addressed his roots in racing and credited his parents for helping him reach NASCAR. Notably, Hamlin's father had to sell off four of his classic cars to fund Hamlin's races. They were also Dennis' personal favourites, a 1932 Ford and a 1967 Chevy Camaro Rally Sport convertible.

“It's really a combination between my two parents," Hamlin said, "I would say that, you know, my dad was the tough side and my mom was the little bit of the softer side, but they both made a lot of struggles and sacrifices to keep funding my racing. I mean, we had to sell off a lot of assets to buy race tires and race fuel and stuff like that.” "We grew up watching NASCAR racing. When I was a kid, every time they came into town to Richmond, we had season tickets. And my parents knew that I loved, you know, we just kept fighting until the right opportunity came about,” he added.

Denny Hamlin is currently tenth on the all-time wins list and is tied with Kevin Harvick on 60 wins. He enters the 2026 season with two years left on his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Edited by Vignesh Kanna