{"id":294042,"date":"2025-11-19T21:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T21:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/294042\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T21:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T21:05:11","slug":"denny-hamlin-cant-bear-to-watch-footage-of-dad-from-nascar-championship-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/294042\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin can’t bear to watch footage of dad from NASCAR championship race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denny Hamlin was the dominant driver in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix, but he still watched the title slip away in overtime to Kyle Larson<\/p>\n

15:24 ET, 19 Nov 2025Updated 15:24 ET, 19 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"DennyDenny Hamlin can’t bear to watch footage of his dad viewing the race(Image: James Gilbert, Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin has endured crushing disappointments throughout his career, but the 2025 NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series championship finale at Phoenix cut especially deep as his terminally ill father, Dennis, was too unwell to witness it in person.<\/p>\n

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver now refuses to watch footage showing his dad’s real-time reaction to the devastating loss. Hamlin controlled 208 laps, started from pole position, and still saw the Cup Series crown vanish<\/a> in overtime to Kyle Larson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His father has been fighting a severe terminal condition and hasn’t been able to make the journey to races, creating an emotional urgency that Hamlin has publicly acknowledged weighs heavily on him.<\/p>\n

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Despite all the raw emotion surrounding Phoenix, Hamlin won’t bring himself to view the video of his father watching those final moments. While his dad remained proud and encouraging, Hamlin explained that witnessing that reaction would simply prove too overwhelming.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, he was fine, very supportive,” Hamlin said on his podcast. “He didn’t like the outcome, but I think he was still okay with the result. You know, he said to me, just like a lot of people say, he’s like, ‘I don’t know what to say. What am I supposed to say?’ He’s like, ‘You had it. You did it. You just don’t have the trophy.”<\/p>\n

Hamlin revealed a video exists of his father watching the race, though he’s chosen not to view it.<\/p>\n

\"DennyHamlin was conflicted about his NASCAR future after the loss(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

“I’ve asked not to see it. There is a video of him and Scotty watching the race. Jordan saw it, but I’ve told them I’d prefer not to.”<\/p>\n

The loss resonated throughout NASCAR. Team owner Joe Gibbs consoled Hamlin following the checkered flag, while William Byron<\/a> joined him during the post-race press conference, offering support with a shoulder pat and confessing he’d been pulling for the No. 11 car to finally claim the championship that had remained out of reach for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n

Hamlin’s commanding performance at Phoenix made the defeat even more painful. He posted the quickest lap at 27.57 seconds and dictated the tempo throughout.<\/p>\n

The sole element beyond Hamlin’s command was the overtime restart, where Larson executed the decisive pass.<\/p>\n

\"DennyDenny Hamlin admitted he still hasn’t watched his dad’s Phoenix reaction(Image: Youtube)<\/p>\n

When questioned about 2026, Hamlin alternated between acknowledging his contractual obligation to compete, confessing his reluctance to contemplate the upcoming season, and questioning what more he could accomplish to secure victory under the existing playoff structure.<\/p>\n

He emphasized repeatedly that his ultimate goal remains having his father witness his Cup championship triumph in person. Phoenix represented his nearest opportunity yet.<\/p>\n

His 2025 season included victories at Las Vegas, Gateway, Michigan, Darlington, Dover, New Hampshire, WWT Raceway and Kansas. He achieved top-three placements at Indy, Martinsville, Miami and Phoenix.<\/p>\n

His disappointment in Phoenix concluded a streak where he finished sixth in the final race after leading over two hundred laps, making him by far the most commanding driver in the field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin was the dominant driver in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix, but he still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-294042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}