Denny Hamlin To Miss NASCAR Cup Series Race In Mexico City

Officially out. Joe Gibbs Racing announced this afternoon that Denny Hamlin will miss this Sunday’s race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The NASCAR Cup Series driver and 23XI Racing team owner has been on baby watch for a couple of weeks now as he’s preparing to welcome his third child, and his first son, with fiancée Jordan Fish. Hamlin has previously revealed that Fish’s due date was on June 1, which would have been the day of […] The post Denny Hamlin To Miss NASCAR Cup Series Race In Mexico City first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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Denny Hamlin To Miss NASCAR Cup Series Race In Mexico City

Officially out.

Joe Gibbs Racing announced this afternoon that Denny Hamlin will miss this Sunday’s race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

The NASCAR Cup Series driver and 23XI Racing team owner has been on baby watch for a couple of weeks now as he’s preparing to welcome his third child, and his first son, with fiancée Jordan Fish.

Hamlin has previously revealed that Fish’s due date was on June 1, which would have been the day of the Cracker Barrel 400 here in Nashville. (He also joked that she couldn’t have it on the 1st because he didn’t want a “Ross Chastain baby”). And for the past two weeks, at both Nashville and Michigan, Joe Gibbs Racing reserve driver Ryan Truex has been on standby, ready to fill in for Hamlin in the event that Fish went into labor and he had to miss the race.

But the baby decided to take its time.

This week, of course, presented a unique challenge for Denny. NASCAR is heading south of the border to Mexico City, the first points-paying international race for the Cup Series since 1958 when Lee Petty won in Toronto. (The Xfinity Series has held races in both Mexico and Canada in recent years, and the Cup Series has also traveled internationally for exhibition races, but there haven’t been any points races internationally in nearly 70 years).

Obviously traveling internationally presents logistical challenges for drivers and teams that they don’t have to deal with when they’re racing in places like Nashville or Michigan. And it means Hamlin would have a much harder time getting back from Mexico City if Fish went into labor while he was traveling, forcing him to choose between racing at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez or missing the birth of his child.

Well earlier this week Hamlin told us what his choice would be, revealing that he would skip the race if Fish hadn’t gone into labor by the time the teams had to leave for Mexico City.

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